Does one day of drinking matter? 21st birthday drinking predicts subsequent drinking and consequences

21st birthday drinking: extremely extreme.

Despite public recognition of the hazards of 21st birthday drinking, there is little empirical information concerning its prevalence, severity, and risk factors. Data from a sample of 2,518 college students suggest that 21st birthday drinking poses an extreme danger: (a) 4 of every 5 participants (83%) reported drinking to celebrate, (b) birthday drinkers indicated high levels of consumption, (...

Drinking consequences and subsequent drinking in college students over 4 years.

There is some evidence that college student drinkers may continue drinking in the face of adverse consequences. We examined 2 hypotheses: (a) that this seemingly pathological behavior is a phenomenon of university life, occurring with consistency throughout the entirety of college, and (b) that individuals accumulate these consequences over multiple semesters in college. A sample of 3,720 stude...

Knowledge of drinking guidelines does not equal sensible drinking.

Does knowledge of college drinking policy influence student binge drinking?

The authors explored alcohol policies at 5 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to gain an understanding of how students' awareness of these policies might correlate with campus binge drinking rates. Findings indicated that male students who reported being unaware of certain alcohol policies were more likely to report binge drinking than their counterparts who reported they were...

Does drinking reduce stress?

For centuries, people have used alcohol to relieve stress--that is, the interpretation of an event as signaling harm, loss, or threat. The organism usually responds to stress with a variety of behavioral, biological, and cognitive changes. Alcohol consumption can result in a stress-response dampening (SRD) effect, which can be assessed using various measures. Numerous individual differences and...