College students' self-reported reasons for why drinking games end.

Previous research has noted that drinking game participation is associated with increased risk of negative alcohol-related consequences. The current study examined the reasons that students give for how drinking games end and/or why students elect to quit playing. Both men and women identified other people quitting and deciding that they have had enough to drink as the most important single item reasons for quitting play. Principal components analysis using a list of 20 reasons identified six factors, four of which contained overlapping items: Conformity/Boredom; Interpersonal Competition; Sexual Contact; Excessive Consumption; Interpersonal Conflict; and External Circumstances. The factors correlated in a theoretically meaningful fashion with measures of alcohol consumption and consequences and personality. Conformity/Boredom reasons and External Circumstances reasons were least associated with negative alcohol-related consequences. Many students apparently play until they get too drunk or too sick to continue. Understanding how games end may offer clues to designing skills training or other prevention interventions to reduce harm associated with drinking games.