‘It's your round!’ – female aggression in licensed premises

Aggression involving young females in licensed premises was examined. Phase 1 investigated whether it was possible to distinguish between females who had been involved in an aggressive incident in a licensed premises from those who had not by looking at ‘ladette’ characteristics (i.e. heavy alcohol consumption, consumption of male-orientated drinks and higher aggression). Fifty-seven female participants completed both a drinking habits questionnaire and an aggression questionnaire. The results supported the hypothesis that females who had been involved in licensed premise aggression were heavier drinkers, were more likely to consume male-orientated drinks, and had higher aggression scores than those who reported never having been involved in such aggression. A logistic regression, however, showed only total alcohol consumption and self-reported physical aggression made unique independent predictions of fighting behaviour. Phase 2 investigated whether four motivations identified in previous research examining licensed premises aggression in males were relevant to such aggression involving females. Twelve participants from phase 1 were interviewed using a semi-structured format. The results indicated that although females reported similar motivations as males for their involvement in licensed premise aggression, they also appeared to be motivated by gender-specific concerns such as taking offence to another female's ‘flirtatious’ behaviour.