Event-specific drinking among college students.

Abstract

College represents a period of risk for heavy drinking and experiencing unwanted consequences associated with drinking. Previous research has identified specific events including holidays (e.g., New Years), school breaks (e.g., Spring Break) and personally relevant events (e.g., 21st birthdays) that are associated with elevated risk of heavy drinking and negative alcohol-related consequences. The systematic evaluation of relative risk offers insights into event specific drinking and an empirical basis upon which to consider allocation of limited prevention resources. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to provide a comparative index of drinking across a wide range of holidays and compare holiday drinking to 21st birthday drinking. Participants were 1,124 students (55% female) who had turned 21 within the previous three weeks in 2008 and provided 90-day retrospective reports of their drinking using the Timeline Follow-back. Results based on a hurdle mixed model for blood alcohol content (BAC) revealed several holidays that stand out for elevated drinking, including New Year’s Eve and July 4th, whereas other holidays appear more similar to weekend drinking, such as Spring Break (approximately last week of March) and graduation (mid-June). Drinking on holidays or special days was substantially lower than drinking on 21st birthdays. Results are discussed in terms of practical applications for targeted intervention efforts on college campuses toward specific events where elevated drinking is known to occur.

Drinking games and contextual factors of 21st birthday drinking

“…Some events are associated with particular risk of excessive drinking. Relative to other high-risk drinking events (e.g., New Year's Eve, St Patrick's Day, Cinco de Mayo, Spring Break), 21st birthday drinking has been found to be associated with the highest blood alcohol content (BAC) and proportion of drinkers (5). A study by Rutledge et al (6) found that half of 21st birthday drinkers drank more on this occasion than any other previous occasion.…”

The temporal “pulse” of drinking: Tracking 5 years of binge drinking in emerging adults.

“…Perhaps one of the most robust population-level patterns has been the temporal pattern day of the week, as revealed in studies of daily drinking over periods from 3 month (s) up to one year (Del Boca, Darkes, Greenbaum & Goldman, 2004; Neighbors et al, 2011). The relevant studies have highlighted weekends as much more common occasions for drinking than weekdays (Del Boca et al, 2004; Neighbors et al, 2011), irrespective of individual drinking patterns, personality characteristics, and demographics (Hoeppner et al, 2012). Other temporal drinking patterns were reflected in calendar events such as Halloween, New Year's Day, and Spring Break (for college students), which occur on a more intermittent basis.…”

“…Other temporal drinking patterns were reflected in calendar events such as Halloween, New Year's Day, and Spring Break (for college students), which occur on a more intermittent basis. Such events, along with local holidays, have been shown to be markers of dramatically increased drinking relative to non-holiday weeks (Del Boca et al, 2004; Goldman, Greenbaum, Darkes, Brandon,& Del Boca, 2011) or typical (non-holiday) Saturdays (Neighbors et al, 2011). …”

Super Bowl Sunday: Risky Business for At-Risk (Male) Drinkers?

“…Celebratory drinking at hazardous levels is well-documented among young adults (e.g., Neighbors et al, 2011). For example, 21 st birthday festivities (e.g., Brister, Sher, & Fromme, 2011; Brister, Wetherill, & Fromme, 2010), holidays and spring break (Glindemann, Wiegand, & Geller, 2007; Lee, Lewis, & Neighbors, 2009), and college football games (e.g., Glassman, Dodd, Sheu, Rienzo, & Wagenaar, 2010; Neal & Fromme, 2007) are associated with young adult celebratory drinking.…”