Jun 29, 2015 11:39 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

A new study confirms what many people already know -- friends can be a dangerous influence, especially if they are heavy drinkers.

Researchers at Queensland University of Technology found that drinking mates can push their friends to drink more. Their study shows that group dynamics played a big role in how much people drank when they were with their friends.

"Risky drinking by Australians is a serious problem that is estimated to cost society $36 billion a year, which is almost four-and-a-half times the cost of illicit drugs," researcher Dr. Ryan McAndrew said in a statement. "Past research has found education on its own promotes awareness but not behaviour change, and legislative policies are limited, so we need to be taking an alternative approach to curbing this risky behaviour."

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from more than 250 drinkers between the ages of 18 and 30 years old to understand  the factors that influence group drinking.

They found that when friends drink together their alcohol consumption increase. The strongest predictor of alcohol consumption was copying or mimicking behaviour, followed by the desire to wind down, then enjoyment and conformity.

"When friends drink socially, whether they know it or not, they drink more because they are mimicking their friends, they are conforming to their friends, they are winding down with their friends and they are enjoying the company of drinking with their friends," McAndrew said.

Researchers also found the gender of the participant influenced alcohol consumption, with males on average drinking almost 25 standard drinks per week, double that of females who drank on average 11 standard drinks per week.

"When examining the effect of group gender composition, all girl groups drink for the same reasons as the all boy groups," he said. "This is likely to be because traditional views around female intoxication have reduced, allowing mostly female groups to adopt similar drinking practices as mostly male groups."

Researchers said their findings could be used within a social marketing campaign to reduce risky drinking among younger adults. 

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