Gender differences in college binge drinking: Examining the role of depression and school stress

• Associations among binge drinking, depression and school-related stress are tested.
• Data are taken from a sample of Midwestern university men and women.
• Depression is indirectly and negatively associated with binge drinking for women.
• Depression is directly and positively associated with binge drinking for men.
• For both women and men, school-related stress is positively associated with depression.

In this paper the associations among binge drinking, depression, and school-related stress are examined for a sample of college men and women. Data are taken from a survey of 248 undergraduate students at the University of North Dakota – located in a state with high underage and binge drinking rates. The current study challenges past work showing that college women are more likely to respond to depression by binge drinking: depression is indirectly and negatively associated with binge drinking among the women in this sample through its association with school-related stress. Among men, depression is directly and positively associated with binge drinking.