Levels Of Heavy Episodic Drinking Research Articles

The Role of Relationship Changes in College Students' Heavy Episodic Drinking.

The beginning of college is a period in which increased alcohol use often coincides with greater involvement in romantic relationships. Existing literature yields inconsistent findings regarding the influence of relationship types on drinking behavior, perhaps because these studies have not accounted for recent changes in the way college students engage in dating/sexual relationships. The present study sought to address this issue using a longitudinal study design by examining the effects of both relationship type and sexual activity on heavy episodic drinking (HED) among 1,847 college students over the course of the first 3 semesters of college. Results indicated that the effects of relationship type depended on whether an individual was sexually active. Nondating but sexually active students reported rates of HED comparable to students who defined themselves as casual daters. Conversely, nondating students who were not sexually active reported drinking behavior similar to those involved in exclusive relationships. Further, transitions between low- and high-risk relationship/sexual activity types were associated with corresponding changes in HED. Transitioning into a high-risk relationship was associated with significant increases in levels of HED, whereas transitioning into a low-risk relationship was associated with significant decreases in HED. Together, results indicate that engaging in nonexclusive dating or casual sexual relationships may play an important role in the development of problematic patterns of alcohol use during the early college years. These findings have potentially important implications both for future research and for prevention and intervention efforts targeting high-risk college drinkers.

Comparing Factors Influencing Heavy Episodic Drinking of Young Adults in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands

The United Kingdom and the Netherlands exhibit similar levels of heavy episodic drinking but different drinking patterns among youths. This study aimed to assess the impact of country of residence on heavy episodic drinking among 293 British and Dutch youths, accounting for other behavioral determinants. Participants completed online questionnaires measuring impulsivity, sensation-seeking, alcohol consumption, and constructs from the Theory of Planned Behavior [TPB]. Mediation analysis established that British youths engaged in more frequent heavy drinking episodes than Dutch youths, as they had weaker intentions to refrain from heavy drinking, and lower perceived behavioral control. Country of residence also was a direct predictor of frequency of heavy drinking episodes, not mediated by personality traits. Thus, country of residence seems an important factor in heavy episodic drinking, partly mediated through TPB constructs. Interventions may benefit from targeting country-specific drinking behavior and related socio-psychological mechanisms.

The influence of time attitudes on adolescent alcohol use behaviours: a 33-month prospective study in the United Kingdom

Time Perspective researchers are concerned with the way in which a combination of thoughts and feelings about the past, present and future influence behaviour. Time attitudes comprise a dimension of time perspective where the focus is narrowed to evaluative feelings about the three time periods. The present study included four waves of data gathered in the United Kingdom, and focused on time attitudes. Participants were adolescents in High schools who completed both the Adolescent and Adult Time Inventory-Time Attitudes Scale, at waves one to three (corresponding to High school years 1 to 3), and surveys of heavy episodic drinking (HED) and drunkenness at wave four (year 4 of High school). Four time attitudes profiles were identified (Positives, Negatives, Negative Futures, and Ambivalents), and the majority of adolescents (75.2%) transitioned between profiles at least once during the three waves of data collection. Fully adjusted analyses tentatively supported the relationship between having a positive time attitudes profile and reduced levels of HED, frequency of lifetime drunkenness, and age of first of drunkenness, with small to moderate effect sizes. Results suggested that the development and maintenance of a positive time attitudes profile might be protective against problematic drinking behaviour in adolescence. Consistent with related studies, it is clear that some time attitudes profiles are associated with less risky and healthier alcohol use behaviours than others, which has implications for possible intervention for problematic drinkers.

Identifying Alcohol Problems and Selected Individual and Contextual Risk Factors Among Adults in South Africa: Findings from the International Alcohol Control Study

Many drinkers globally are at risk of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD). The study aimed to identify the extent of AUDs and associated individual and societal-level risk factors or vulnerabilities among adult drinkers in a country with high levels of heavy episodic drinking. A household survey was conducted in the Tshwane Metro, South Africa, using multistage stratified cluster random sampling. Complete data were available on 949 adult drinkers. Half (49%) reported symptoms of alcohol problems, as a proxy for AUDs, as measured using the RAPS4. Gender and age were not associated with symptoms of alcohol problems. White persons had 74% lower odds of symptoms of alcohol problems compared to Black Africans, and persons who reported stressful life events in the past 6 months were four times more likely to report symptoms of alcohol problems. Persons whose primary drinking location was a pub/bar/tavern and “other club” were more than twice as likely to have symptoms of alcohol problems than persons who drank at home, and persons whose primary beverage was wine were 74% less likely to have symptoms of alcohol problems compared to beer drinkers. The findings raise important implications regarding particular vulnerabilities experienced by Black Africans; the sale of alcoholic beverages, and especially beer, in locations such as pubs/bars/taverns; and the need for more comprehensive epidemiological research to assess the nature and extent of AUDs in South Africa together with focused contextual research on particular groups at risk.

Magnitude and Trends in Heavy Episodic Drinking, Alcohol-Impaired Driving, and Alcohol-Related Mortality and Overdose Hospitalizations Among Emerging Adults of College Ages 18-24 in the United States, 1998-2014.

This article estimates percentages of U.S. emerging adults ages 18-24 engaging in past-month heavy episodic drinking and past-year alcohol-impaired driving, and numbers experiencing alcohol-related unintentional injury deaths and overdose hospitalizations between 1998 and 2014. We analyzed national injury mortality data from coroner, census, and college enrollment statistics, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. From 1999 to 2005, percentages of emerging adults ages 18-24 reporting past-month heavy episodic drinking rose from 37.1% to 43.1% and then declined to 38.8% in 2014. Alcohol-impaired driving rose from 24% to 25.5% and then declined to 16.0%. Alcohol-related unintentional injury deaths increased from 4,807 in 1998 to 5,531 in 2005 and then declined to 4,105 in 2014, a reduction of 29% per 100,000 since 1998. Alcohol-related traffic deaths increased from 3,783 in 1998 to 4,114 in 2005 and then declined to 2,614 in 2014, down 43% per 100,000 since 1998. Alcohol-related overdose deaths increased from 207 in 1998 to 891 in 2014, a 254% increase per 100,000. Other types of nontraffic unintentional injury deaths declined. Alcohol-overdose hospitalizations rose 26% per 100,000 from 1998 to 2014, especially from increases in alcohol/other drug overdoses, up 61% (alcohol/opioid overdoses up 197%). Among emerging adults, a trend toward increased alcohol-related unintentional injury deaths, heavy episodic drinking, and alcohol-impaired driving between 1998 and 2005 was reversed by 2014. Persistent high levels of heavy episodic drinking and related problems among emerging adults underscore a need to expand individually oriented interventions, college/community collaborative programs, and evidence-supported policies to reduce their drinking and related problems.

Heavy Episodic Drinking and Sexual Aggression Among Male College Students: The Protective Influence of Church Attendance.

Much research has examined personal characteristics that increase the risk of men engaging in sexual aggression. Heavy episodic drinking, typically operationalized for males as consuming five or more standard drinks of alcohol in a 2-hr period, is one factor that has been found in most studies to be associated with higher risk for sexual aggression. Although relatively little empirical attention has been given to personal characteristics that can protect men from perpetrating sexual aggression, research on factors that are tied to less alcohol use may be fruitful in this regard. Accordingly, the current study examined if church attendance protected against sexual aggression perpetration by reducing heavy episodic drinking among male students who completed survey questionnaires during their first, second, and third years of college. The results showed increased church attendance over the first and second years of college was associated with lower levels of subsequent, heavy episodic drinking and sexual aggression. Moreover, the results indicated lower levels of heavy episodic drinking mediated the protective effect of church attendance on sexual aggression. These findings can inform sexual aggression prevention efforts in the male, college student population.

A prospective study of stressful events, coping motives for drinking, and alcohol use among middle-aged adults.

This prospective study investigated moderator variable models of the interrelationships among stressful events, coping motives for drinking, and current alcohol use on subsequent alcohol use across a 5-year window with middle-aged adults. Data from women (n = 716; M(age) = 55.29 years at baseline) and men (n = 505; M(age) = 57.57 years at baseline) were used to examine theory-guided hypotheses that current levels of alcohol use would interact with stressful events and coping motives for drinking to predict higher levels of alcohol use across time. Analyses were conducted separately for men and women. After we controlled for several potentially important covariates (i.e., age, educational level, family income, and marital status), prospective regression analyses supported moderator effects for current alcohol use and stressful events as predictors of changes in alcohol use, and a somewhat weaker consistency of moderator effects for current alcohol use and coping motives for drinking as predictors of changes in alcohol use. For example, higher levels of baseline alcohol involvement in conjunction with higher levels of stress predicted higher levels of alcohol use and alcohol problems 5 years later. Similarly, higher levels of coping motives and higher levels of heavy episodic drinking predicted higher levels of heavy episodic drinking among women 5 years later. The findings were discussed from an alcohol-stress vulnerability model of affect regulation and a positive regulatory feedback loop perspective wherein conditional relationships among baseline alcohol use indicators, stressful events, and coping drinking motives predicted greater alcohol involvement, especially problematic use, across time.

Religiosity as a moderator of the relation between sensation seeking and substance use for college-aged individuals.

Substance use has been identified as a major problem on college campuses across the country, with excessive use often leading to unintended and unwanted negative health outcomes. Sensation seeking has been shown to be a consistent predictor of engagement in various health risk behaviors, including substance use. Religiosity has been shown to negatively predict substance use. However, there is mixed evidence on the relations among these risk and protective factors. This may be due to the operational definitions of religiosity in previous research. The current study investigated religiosity as a moderator of the relation between sensation seeking and substance use using robust measures of religiosity. The primary hypotheses were (a) sensation seeking would be positively associated with higher levels of heavy episodic drinking and marijuana use; (b) religiosity would be negatively associated with higher levels of substance use; and (c) religiosity would moderate the relation between sensation seeking and substance use such that, when religiosity was high, there would be no association between sensation seeking and substance use, but at low and moderate levels of religiosity, there would be a positive association between them. Religiosity was a significant moderator of the relation between risk seeking and marijuana use (p < .01), but it was less effective as a moderator between sensation seeking and heavy episodic drinking. Religiosity appears to have a stronger buffering effect for illegal drug use compared with alcohol use, perhaps in part because of the relative acceptance of alcohol consumption across major U.S. religious orientations.

Heavy Episodic Drinking Among University Students: Drinking Status and Perceived Normative Comparisons

The present study tests the perceived norms hypothesis in relation to different levels of heavy episodic drinking (HED) among university students. In 2007, 303 students from residence halls and the School of Psychology at the University of Wollongong, Australia, completed a questionnaire about their alcohol consumption and associated attitudes and behaviors. Between-groups analyses of variance (ANOVAs) revealed significantly higher AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) scores among students in higher-frequency HED groups. Students who engaged in HED tended to underestimate their own drinking when comparing themselves with others. Improving the accuracy of perceptions about one's own drinking in relation to others (normative information) may help reduce levels of HED among students.

Selected sociodemographic factors and related differences in patterns of alcohol use among university students in Slovakia

BackgroundAlcohol use and misuse and their relation to sociodemograhic factors are well studied among university students in Western European countries and the USA, but less is known about students in Eastern Europe. The historical past as communistic countries might have affected the social life among these populations, which is again one of the main factors determining the alcohol consumption among university students. The aim of our study was to assess the association of selected sociodemographic factors with different patterns of alcohol use among university students in Slovakia.MethodsA sample of 813 young adults (mean age 21.1 years, 63.8% females; response rate of 71%) from four universities in Kosice answered questions about their sociodemographic background and about alcohol use. To obtain a detailed picture of different aspects, alcohol use was measured by four variables: frequency of alcohol use, heavy episodic drinking, frequency of drunkenness and problem drinking. Four separate logistic regression models were used to assess the association between sociodemographic and alcohol-related variables. To assess the potentially different effects in both genders, all two-way interactions with gender were tested.ResultsWhile 41% of the students drank alcohol once a week or more often, 77% reported heavy episodic drinking and 49% had been drunk more than once in the last month. Problem drinking existed in 23.3% of the sample. Gender was consistently associated with all four alcohol-related variables, with males being at higher risk. A higher study year was associated only with lower levels of heavy episodic drinking, but displayed no association with the other studied variables. Living with parents during the semester was consistently associated with less frequent heavy episodic drinking, drunkenness episodes, and problem drinking while having an intimate relationship was associated with less problem drinking only.ConclusionsOur findings for the university students from Slovakia are in line with previous studies in Western Europe. Additionally, it appears that frequent alcohol use, excessive alcohol use (heavy episodic drinking and drunkenness) and problem drinking among university students represent a continuum and are influenced by the same sociodemographic factors.

Persistence of Heavy Drinking and Ensuing Consequences at Heavy Drinking Colleges

The purpose of this study was to examine drinking levels, related harms, and secondhand effects of alcohol use at heavy drinking colleges between 1993 and 2005 at colleges with high levels of drinking in 1993. Students attending 18 colleges with high levels of heavy episodic drinking (50% of students or more) from the 1993 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study were surveyed in 2005 (n = 4,518). Data collected through mailed and Web-based questionnaires were compared with responses from students at the same schools in 1993, 1997, 1999, and 2001 (N = 13,254) using time trend analyses. Overall, levels of alcohol consumption, experience of problems, and levels of secondhand effects remained high among students attending heavy drinking colleges. More than four of five students at these schools drank alcohol (range: 85%-88%), and more than half engaged in heavy episodic drinking (range: 53%-58%). The stability of drinking behavior occurred among subgroups of students as well. The few statistically significant changes occurred mainly between 1993 and 1997. A decline in driving after any drinking between 1997 and 2005 was observed, but no similar decline was found in two other measures of drinking and driving. Heavy drinking and associated problems continue unabated, with few exceptions, at colleges that are most in need of intervention: those with high levels of heavy episodic drinking. Addressing student alcohol use at heavy drinking colleges may require stronger, more consistent, and more comprehensive approaches, with increased emphasis on the alcohol environment.

Selection and socialization effects of fraternities and sororities on US college student substance use: a multi‐cohort national longitudinal study

To examine how membership in fraternities and sororities relates to the prevalence and patterns of substance use in a national sample of full-time US college students. Nationally representative probability samples of US high school seniors (modal age 18 years) were followed longitudinally across two follow-up waves during college (modal ages 19/20 and 21/22). Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires from US high school seniors and college students. The longitudinal sample consisted of 10 cohorts (senior years of 1988-97) made up of 5883 full-time undergraduate students, of whom 58% were women and 17% were active members of fraternities or sororities. Active members of fraternities and sororities had higher levels of heavy episodic drinking, annual marijuana use and current cigarette smoking than non-members at all three waves. Although members of fraternities reported higher levels than non-members of annual illicit drug use other than marijuana, no such differences existed between sorority members and non-members. Heavy episodic drinking and annual marijuana use increased significantly with age among members of fraternities or sororities relative to non-members, but there were no such differential changes for current cigarette use or annual illicit drug use other than marijuana. The present study provides strong evidence that higher rates of substance use among US college students who join fraternities and sororities predate their college attendance, and that membership in a fraternity or sorority is associated with considerably greater than average increases in heavy episodic drinking and annual marijuana use during college. These findings have important implications for prevention and intervention efforts aimed toward college students, especially members of fraternities and sororities.

Drinking levels, alcohol problems and secondhand effects in substance-free college residences: results of a national study.

This study examines alcohol use, associated problems and secondhand effects among residents of substance-free and alcohol-free housing on U.S. college campuses. In the spring of 1999, a nationally representative sample of students completed survey questionnaires regarding alcohol use and related behaviors. The responses of 2,555 (61.25% female) students living in different types of residences (substance-free, alcohol-free and unrestricted) at the 52 campuses at which these housing options existed were compared. Substance-free residences were not substance-free; however, residents drank less heavily and experienced fewer alcohol-related problems and secondhand effects than students living in unrestricted housing. They were less likely (three fifths) to engage in heavy episodic drinking. The difference between students in substance-free and unrestricted housing was greatest for students who had not been heavy episodic drinkers in high school and for those on campuses with lower overall levels of heavy episodic drinking. In contrast, students who lived in alcohol-free halls were no less likely to be heavily involved in alcohol use than were students in unrestricted housing. Residence in substance-free housing was associated with lower likelihood of heavy episodic drinking in college for students who were not heavy episodic drinkers in high school. Whether or not this is a causal relationship or a result of self-selection needs to be examined in a prospective study. These living arrangements are also associated with lower levels of secondhand effects. College administrators may want to consider offering or increasing their substance-free housing options as one possible method of decreasing heavy student drinking.

The adverse impact of heavy episodic drinkers on other college students.

College student survey data were examined to assess the impact of campus levels of heavy episodic drinking on nonheavy episodic drinking college students. Analyses are based on a survey mailed to a random sample of college students at 140 American colleges. A total of 17,592 students (69%) at participating colleges responded. The study defined "heavy" drinking as the consumption of five or more drinks in a row for men and four or more for women, and divided schools into approximately equal categories: lower drinking level schools where 35% or fewer students were heavy drinkers; midlevel schools (36-50% heavy drinkers); and high drinking level schools where over 50% of the students were heavy drinkers. Residing on campus at high drinking level schools adversely affected students who were not engaging in heavy drinking. The odds of experiencing at least one problem from other students' drinking was 3.6 to 1 when nonheavy drinking students at high drinking level schools were compared to nonheavy drinking students at lower drinking level schools. Examples of such secondary heavy drinking effects included being hit or assaulted, having one's property damaged or experiencing an unwanted sexual advance. College alcohol prevention efforts should include a focus on the needs of students who are not engaging in heavy drinking yet may be adversely impacted by other students' heavy drinking.