Research into the relationship between alcohol and aggression has previously focused on men. However, in recent years there has been an increase in binge drinking and violent crime among women, behaviours which have been labelled ‘ladette’ culture in the UK. The current study advances the literature in this area by investigating the relationship between alcohol consumption and aggressive behaviour of females in licensed premises, including the type of aggression and motivations for aggressive incidents. Ninety-three female university students completed the Student Alcohol Questionnaire (SAQ; Engs, 2002), the Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992) and a questionnaire developed to measure self-reported aggressive incidents. Females who had been involved in an aggressive incident reported spending more time on average in licensed premises per week and higher levels of aggression as well as consuming significantly more alcohol on the day of the incident than females who had not been involved in an aggressive incident. Contrary to expectations, however, those who had been involved in an aggressive incident did not report drinking more beer (a male-orientated drink) than those who had not. Verbally aggressive incidents were reported more than physically aggressive incidents, and aggression was commonly motivated by an emotional reaction or to address a grievance. The finding that average alcohol consumption per week was significantly associated with female aggression in licensed premises highlights the importance of developing interventions to reduce alcohol consumption among young females.
In recent years the media has provided extensive reports on alcohol related crime, particularly the rise of aggressive incidents occurring in licensed premises (The Daily Mail, 2009, October 23, The Guardian, 2011, January 22 and The Telegraph, 2011, January 29), and numerous studies have reported a link between alcohol consumption and violence. Saner and Ellickson (1996), for example, found that violent delinquents consumed more alcohol than non-violent delinquents, and Richardson and Budd (2003) reported that one in five violent incidents occurs either in or around licensed premises. Furthermore, research has shown that victims believed that the offender was under the influence of alcohol in 50% of violent incidents (Flatley, Kershaw, Smith, Chaplin, & Moon, 2010).
The number of women convicted of violent crimes in England and Wales has almost doubled since the 24-hour drinking laws emerged in 2004, an epidemic for which the British media blame the recent rise of the ‘ladette’ culture (The Daily Mail, 2008, August 14, The Daily Mail, 2010, April 15 and The Telegraph, 2009, October 1). Ladettes are described as women who display typically male characteristics such as assertive, tough and aggressive behaviour as well as drinking large quantities of alcohol, particularly those beverages which were previously perceived to be male-orientated drinks (Mercer & Khavari, 1990).
The emergence of the ladette culture could be attributable to a number of factors. In Britain alcohol has become increasingly accessible (sold in supermarkets as well as restaurants, bars and clubs) and affordable (with offers on bulk buying in supermarkets and drinks promotions such as happy hours in bars). There has also been an increase in the number of advertising campaigns which target the promotion of alcohol specifically for women, with drinks such as low calorie alcopops and wine being advertised as glamorous (The Telegraph, 2011). Alcohol use by female celebrities is also frequently depicted as glamorous in magazines (Atkinson, Elliot, Bellis, & Sumnall, 2011) and it has been suggested that there has been a marked change in attitudes and behaviour towards alcohol by British society as a whole (Institute of Alcohol Studies, 2007).
The prevalence of alcohol use and its associated problems is higher in student populations than the general public (Evans & Dunn, 1995), and an international study of drinking among university students (Dantzer, Wardle, Fuller, Pampalone, & Steptoe, 2006) found that only in England and Ireland did female students binge drink more than males. The Institute of Alcohol Studies (2007) also reports that approximately 1 in 10 young British women aged 16–24 drink more than 35 units of alcohol per week (the equivalent of approximately four bottles of wine), which is well over the recommended allowance. It is important to address these behaviours because of the rise in the number of young women being admitted to hospital after binge drinking which is causing police and medical staff to struggle to cope with rising demands (Institute of Alcohol Studies, 2009 and Institute of Alcohol Studies, 2010). In particular, there has been a noticeably large increase in the number of people aged 20–29 admitted to Accident and Emergency Hospital departments following assaults on Friday and Saturday evenings (NHS, 2011) and the increase in street fights around licensed premises has been blamed by the media on this excessive drinking (The Daily Mail, 2004). Furthermore, this level of drunken disorder and crime has created ‘no go zones’ where people do not go out into certain areas in town or city centres due to a fear of drunken and antisocial behaviour (Engineer et al., 2003 and The Telegraph, 2011, January 29). Thus, an increase in alcohol use among young people is a pressing public health problem associated with serious societal consequences, such as an increase in violent incidents.
