Pregaming is the new game
By Jason Lemay
21.4% of students pregame twice a week, according to a study done by William DeJong and several of his colleagues. Pregaming is described as the act of drinking alcohol privately before attending a social event. It is also called predrinking and preloading by some students. This study was conducted to get introductory research into the drinking habits of students in a post secondary institution. To some students, pregaming is consuming alcohol rapidly with the sole purpose to get intoxicated. To others, the goal isn’t to get really drunk but more as a base for when you arrive at a social event where alcohol will be served.
The study by William DeJong used both a questionnaire and group discussions with students from 10 different post secondary institutions within central and eastern Pennsylvania. The students were voluntarily recruited from one of two sources: students in disciplinary alcohol education classes or in first year seminars relating to substance use, of which 112 students participated in the study. The questionnaire was composed of questions to gather background information on the student, questions concerning their drinking habits such as: how many times in the last two weeks have they had more than 5 drinks in one sitting, if they have pregamed in the last two weeks and the average number of drinks they have in a week. They were then asked their opinion on the same questions but for the average student. In the group discussion the moderators asked questions about the student’s thoughts on alcohol use in colleges. They then asked the participating students to describe pregaming. They followed up by asking questions on alcohol safety and asked for any comments on how the administration [of the college] could better control alcohol consumption by students. In the study one student says “ If pregaming was that big of a problem, and they [the administration] really wanted to discourage it, they would make this a dry campus and make the penalties more severe and do more room checks, but then nobody would go to school here, and they want the money.” This makes it hard for the campus administration. They have to find a middle ground, one that controls pregaming and alcohol consumption but without imposing an oppressive environment.
The goal of this research was to find preliminary data for future research to aid the administration on finding such a middle ground.
The study found that 30% of students claim to have participated in heavy episodic drinking three to five times in the past two weeks. Heavy episodic drinking is defined by the study as having more than 5 drinks in one sitting. Whereas only 20% of the students reported doing so only once in the previous two weeks. As for pregaming, 19% of the students claimed to have pregamed 3-5 times in the past weeks but also stated that they believe that on average 48% of the other students pregame 3-5 times a week. Out of the students who reported having a grade point average equivalent to an A+, A or A-, 82% also reported to have pregamed in the last two weeks. The study does not support the idea that pregaming may have any effect on your GPA.
What happens during a pregame event depends on what the event after is and how long they have to pregame before the event. Most students say that if they plan on going to a bar, they pregame to go to the bar already intoxicated to save money since buying drinks at a bar is far more expensive than buying alcohol from a store. When one student was asked to describe pregaming he responded with “I call it saving money.” Students seem to understand limitations to pregaming, such as if they plan on attending an event where faculty will be present they tend to not get as intoxicated.
One part of pregaming is drinking games. The study lists Flip cup, kings, quarters, power hour and circle of death among others as the most popular games students are playing to consume large amounts of alcohol in small amounts of time.
The study shows that students know and understand the risks of pregaming, such as if they drink too much at their pregame event, they may not make it to ‘the game”. One student was quoted saying that at a large party, no one is keeping track of how much you drank but at the smaller pregaming events there is more pressure to keep up with everyone. Another risk it brings is that students often get ahead of themselves at pregaming events and forget to consider a designated driver into the night’s plan. “It’s what happens between that first place and your new location... that’s the risk.” Pregaming is a new phenomenon for campus administration. More research, with bigger sample sizes is needed to aid administration on their quest to control alcohol consumption. But for now pregaming appears to be a major part in social events and it’s up to the students to do it responsibly.
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