Detecting college binge drinkers using an extended time frame.

Collegiate binge-drinking is estimated at 44% nationwide, yet epidemiological studies typically limit estimates of binge drinking to episodes during the prior 2 weeks. This study hypothesized that a group of students will have binged on alcohol during the past 3 months but not within the past 2 weeks, and therefore would not be detected using the standard 2-week time frame. Forty males and 72 females who reported drinking alcohol within the past 3 months were included in this study. Fifty-four of the student drinkers (48.2%) were classified as binge drinkers using the prior 2-weeks time criterion, whereas 88 (78.6%) were identified as bingers using the prior 3 months as the criterion. Over one third (38.6%) of the students who binged during the past 3 months would not have been identified as bingers using a 2-week detection period. Furthermore, age, church attendance, alcohol-related consequences, and age of first intoxication were the same regardless of whether bingers had binged in the past 2 weeks or the past 3 months. In contrast, recent binge drinkers reported more frequent alcohol consumption than the 3-month bingers.

Progression of consequences among heavy-drinking college students.

Among a sample of 180 male and 226 female undergraduates, 84.2% reported a heavy drinking episode (5+ drinks for men, 4+ for women) within the previous 90 days. Principal-components analysis revealed 3 alcohol-related problem factors among the heavy drinkers (Careless Behavior, Risky/Reckless Behavior, and Authority Problems). Nearly all heavy drinkers experienced a careless behavior that was due to drinking (92.7%), and many reported a risky/reckless behavior (60.2%), yet only one third (33.9%) experienced an authority problem. Guttman scaling procedures revealed a progression from Careless Behavior to Reckless/Risky Behavior to an Authority Problem. Heavy drinkers with an authority problem drank more frequently, consumed more when drinking, endorsed more alcohol expectancies, and reported earlier ages of initial and regular drinking than other groups.

The role of alcohol in adolescent relapse and outcome.

Although adolescents entering treatment for substance abuse typically use several substances, alcohol is seldom the drug of choice. Given alcohol's role as a gateway substance in the initiation of substance misuse, the authors hypothesize that alcohol is substantially involved in adolescent relapse following substance abuse treatment. One hundred fifty-seven youths (39.5% female, mean age 15.91 years) were recruited from adolescent inpatient alcohol and drug treatment centers and assessed at six and 12 months after discharge. Of the youths studied, 79% had used one or more substances by 12-month follow-up. Although only 1% reported alcohol as their substance of choice while hospitalized, alcohol was involved in 46% of initial posttreatment use episodes. Almost a quarter (23%) of initial posttreatment substance use events involved multiple substances. Initial posttreatment use episodes involving multiple substances and preferred substances were associated with poorer outcomes during the year following treatment both in terms of rate of return to and severity of substance involvement. Youths who initially used only alcohol were also likely to resume harmful levels of substance involvement by one year after treatment. Results suggest two routes, gateway and preferred substance, for adolescents in the resumption of harmful substance use following treatment. This gateway role merits consideration by adolescent substance abuse treatment providers and families of treated youths.

Modeling of alcohol use mediates the effect of family history of alcoholism on adolescent alcohol expectancies.

The relative impact of biological family history of alcoholism and exposure to abusive parental drinking on alcohol effect expectancies of adolescent offspring were investigated in the present study. Exposure to familial models of alcohol abuse and biological family history were both predictive of positive alcohol effect expectancies of adolescent offspring. Degree of exposure to an alcohol-abusing family member mediated the relationship between biological family history of alcoholism and adolescent alcohol outcome expectancies. These results support prior findings of expectancy differences between youths with and without a family background of alcoholism and provide evidence supporting the significance of family modeling influences in the development of adolescents' alcohol expectancies.