A new study examined the concept of extreme drinking in college students, and whether certain behaviors such as “pre-partying” or drinking games influence how extreme the drinking actually gets.
Many of us know that a lot of alcohol is consumed during college, and is often the first time adult children have been away from the protective eyes of their parents.
A new study out of Penn State University, the #9 Party School in the US in 2014 and moving up to #7 in 2015 according to the Princeton Review, looked at whether extreme drinking was more likely on days
when the students reported pre-partying or playing drinking games.
A couple of definitions in case it’s been too long since your college experience:
Pre-partying: a.k.a. “pre-gaming” – Constitutes drinking prior to leaving the dorms and going out to the bars or other parties.
Extreme drinking – According to this study extreme drinking involves drinking so much that BAC levels were 0.16% or greater, enough alcohol was consumed to result in stumbling, or the individual drank enough to pass out (or in the case of the image above, blacking out in a dog crate with a 40 strapped to your hands).
400 college seniors that were at the legal drinking age (21) were observed in this study. 4 different extreme drinking outcomes were measured: 1) drinking at least 8 drinks for women and 10 drinks for men; 2) BAC of at least 0.16; 3) stumbling; and 4) passing out.
has been on the decline in the past decade or so, though the exact reason why is not known. Of course, there are theories, but it is not clear what the causes are, or if there are multiple factors as work.
One theory is that this decrease in adherence to the Mediterranean diet may be linked to the global economic declines during the years between 2005 and 2010.
One recent study examined this very theory, surveying 21001 Italian citizens over the course of the five year period between 2005 and 2010. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet scores and wealth scores were monitored, as well as other socioeconomic data, for each participant over the course of the 5 year study.