Influence of Masculinity and Femininity on Alcohol Consumption in Young People: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Introduction: Alcohol consumption is a complex social practice that plays a role in building and consolidating friendships, as well as creating gender identities. The latter determines the limits of behaviors and defines what is considered appropriate or inappropriate in our daily routine; therefore, alcohol consumption patterns are not independent of gender. Objective: To identify and describe available evidence on the influence of gender on youth alcohol consumption. Materials and method: A review was conducted under JBI and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Original full-text articles published between 2018 and 2023 in the VHL, PubMed, EBSCOhost, Web of Sciences, Epistemonikos, ScienceDirect, and ProQuest databases, without language limitations, were analyzed. The search categories were “Alcohol Drinking” AND “Young Adult” AND “Gender Identity” OR “Gender role”. Results: A total of 403 records were identified, but only 12 studies were included in the synthesis. The main results of these studies showed that both gender identity and gender roles influence alcohol consumption in young adults. Social gender norms may pressure young women to maintain a physical image and young men to maintain a normative public image. Conclusions: Social gender norms influence alcohol consumption behaviors; therefore, it is necessary to take these gender differences into account in nursing interventions and prevention strategies.