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

Abstract

Binge drinking is associated with clinically significant individual-level and public health consequences. The topography of binge drinking may influence the emergence of consequences but studies of topography require a higher level of temporal resolution than is typically available in epidemiological research. To address topography across the five “peak” years of binge drinking (18 to 23 years), we assessed daily binge drinking via successive 90-day Timeline Follow back interviews of 645 young adults (resulting in almost 700,000 data points). Results showed a weekend “pulse” of binge drinking that remained consistent across the entire five year span, with occasional holiday-based perturbations. Two-part latent growth curve (LGC) modeling applied to this dataset showed that the often-observed decrease in drinking associated with “maturing out” was due more to decreased participation in binge drinking occasions, rather than to amounts consumed when drinking (intensity). Similarly, the number of binge drinkers varied by day of the week, but the intensity of binge drinking, for those drinking, varied little by day of the week. This approach also showed distinctive predictors for participation and intensity; baseline expectancies and sociability accounted for individual differences in participation, whereas impulsivity-sensation seeking predicted intensity. Individual patterns of binge drinking participation and intensity also predicted drinking consequences over the 5 years of the study. Given these results, binge drinking patterns may serve as a useful phenotype for future research on pathological drinking.

Differences in weekday versus weekend drinking among nonstudent emerging adults.

“…This pattern has been shown across samples, with the overwhelming majority focusing on college students (Del Boca et al, 2004; Hoeppner et al, 2012; Labhart & Kuntsche, 2014; Maggs et al, 2011; Tremblay et al, 2010; Wood et al, 2007), but also has been demonstrated in the general population (Kushnir & Cunningham, 2014). The current findings are consistent with Goldman et al (2011), which showed weekly patterns of drinking escalation from weekday to weekend, and congruous with the results of Reich et al (2015), which revealed that those choosing to binge drink varied by day of the week, with rates peaking on Saturdays.…”

Voluntary Binge Consumption of Ethanol in a Sweetened, Chocolate-Flavored Solution by Male and Female Adolescent Sprague Dawley Rats

“…These findings add credence to the notion that animals crossing the threshold for binge drinking (≥80 mg/dl), may require several days for recovery before consuming large amounts of EtOH again, whereas the animals consuming the Boost ® solution alone are not subject to such constraints and can maintain more consistent intakes across the 14 days of access. Although not used in the formal definition of binge use, binge‐like consumption in adolescents typically follows a pattern of high levels of drinking followed by days of little consumption (e.g., binge drinking on weekends) (Reich et al., ). It is interesting that the intake of our animals showed a similar variable pattern under circumstances when free access was given daily, suggesting that the variability in binge pattern of use over day in human adolescents may not merely be opportunistic, but could reflect in part acute withdrawal and recovery.…”

Identifying the Intersection of Alcohol, Adherence and Sex in HIV Positive Men on ART Treatment in India Using an Adapted Timeline Followback Procedure

“…Increases in binge drinking days are likely to be associated with corresponding increases in other risks (58). In addition to the obvious immediate effects of consuming a large amount of alcohol at a single sitting, there is evidence to suggest that more adverse events are associated with 2 or more days of binge (heavy) drinking a week than with more regular consumption of smaller amounts of alcohol (64). …”