Alcohol Use and Drinking Motives Among Suddenly Bereaved College Students

Abstract

Objective: Thousands of Americans grieve the sudden death of a loved one each year. These sudden deaths may be the result of violent deaths, as in the cases of homicide, suicide, or fatal accidents, or may occur as the result of natural causes such as heart attacks or strokes. Sudden loss survivors often experience negative mental health outcomes such as depression, prolonged grief disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Survivors may also misuse alcohol for varied reasons after these losses, which can put them at risk for alcohol-related consequences. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore associations between psychological distress and alcohol-related outcomes among young adults with a history of sudden loss. Methods: A sample of 659 young adults completed a series of self-report measures assessing loss history, psychosocial distress, perceived alcohol-related problems, and drinking motives. Results: Results showed that survivors of sudden, violent losses reported higher rates of past 30-day alcohol use than those who had lost a loved one to a sudden, natural loss or those who reported no loss history. Though there were no statistically significant differences in drinking motives between violent or natural loss survivors, more severe depression symptoms among bereaved individuals were associated with drinking to cope and to conform. Participants experiencing prolonged grief symptoms were also more likely to report drinking to conform. Conclusions: Bereavement-related distress may influence drinking motives among young adults with a history of sudden loss.

Factors Associated With Alcohol and Substance Use in Bereaved College and University Students

“…Feelings of grief and mental health distress played a significant role in the increased use of substances in our sample. Previous research found that young adults, including students, who experience a high level of bereavement-related mental health distress may be more likely to engage in maladaptive coping behaviours, such as substance use, than their peers who experience less grief and mental health distress (Eddinger et al, 2019). It is possible that other students' use also increased after their loved one's death, but they did not attribute this to the death.…”

Posttraumatic stress disorder, drinking to cope, and harmful alcohol use: A multivariate meta-analysis of the self-medication hypothesis.

“…Similarly, there is a wide range of correlations between coping-related drinking and alcohol-related variables in the literature. Such variables include number of alcoholic drinks ( r = .21–.42; McCabe et al, 2019; McDevitt-Murphy et al, 2017), frequency of consumption ( r = .21–.67; Cloutier et al, 2018; McDevitt-Murphy et al, 2017), alcohol-related problems ( r = .20–.56; Eddinger et al, 2019; Stappenbeck et al, 2013), and risky drinking ( r = .34–.64; Marshall-Berenz et al, 2011; Woolman et al, 2015). There is also variation in the size of the indirect effect for coping motives on the association between PTSD and alcohol use.…”

Improving Undergraduate Students’ Responses to Bereaved Peers: An Innovative Online Intervention

“…In addition, students who were grieving and exhibiting severe depression symptoms were more likely to report drinking alcohol to cope and conform (Eddinger et al, 2018). Over 70% of grieving students who reported losing someone in a sudden, violent death drank alcohol in the past 30 days (Eddinger et al, 2018); the national prevalence of past-month alcohol use in college students is 58% (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2015). Grieving students also reported higher rates of insomnia (22%) compared with non-bereaved students (17%; Hardison et al, 2005).…”