use, and subsequently, whether these perceptions differentially impacted personal use for male and female students. They found that male participants provided significantly higher estimates for both genders, and that all students perceived girls to drink less often and consume fewer alcoholic drinks per week than boys. Moreover, they found that same-sex perceptions of drinking norms were more predictive of personal alcohol consumption for girls than boys. As older adolescents enter into young adulthood, they perceive the “typical” female to consume less alcohol than her male counterpart; this belief is likely interacting with gender role conformity (discussed below) and thus serving as a protective factor against the escalation of use in women.
