Related to the influence of peer group affiliation is the process of socialization and gender identification. In fact, Landrine, Bardwell, and Dean (1988) found that attitudes and expectations regarding the acceptability of drinking and drunkenness were influenced by beliefs subsumed in traditional gender roles. It is hypothesized that men in part drink more often than women in order to accede to an aspect of masculinity. Conversely, girls and women endorsing stereotypical female characteristics (virtue, nurturance, emotionality) are likely to report reduced alcohol involvement (e.g., Ricciardelli, Connor, Williams, & Young, 2001; Wilsnack & Wilsnack, 1978). Huselid and Cooper (1992) found that adolescent attitudes towards traditional gender roles substantially mediated the relationship between gender and drinking patterns, with the greatest mediation effects for drinking to intoxication. Although the effects of gender role ideology on alcohol use were found for both genders, the effects were stronger among adolescent males. Just as parental monitoring, deviant peer groups, and the media influence perceptions of peer use (Perkins, 2003), these same factors shape beliefs regarding gender roles and the relationship of these roles to drinking (Maccoby,
