Alcohol Help

A research team this week will present findings that they say may finally explain the link between alcohol consumption and breast cancer.

“Cells have different mechanisms to remove toxic substances, such as ethanol, the chemical name for alcohol, that represent a potential risk to them,” explains Maria de Lourdes Rodriguez-Fragoso, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos in Mexico. “Unfortunately, sometimes these mechanisms produce other toxic substances, including some that are associated with the development of different types of cancer.”

At 12:25 p.m. Monday, April 23, Rodriguez-Fragoso will present her group’s work at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, held in conjunction with the Experimental Biology 2012 conference in San Diego.

Alcohol consumption has long been established as a risk factor for breast cancer. But finding the direct link that makes it so has, so far, proved elusive. Now, Rodriguez-Fragoso and her collaborators think that they have found the answer, a protein called CYP2E1.

“We knew that CYP2E1 could break down ethanol and that doing so created unstable, highly reactive chemicals known as free radicals,” she says. Working with researcher Scott Burchiel and his group at the University of New Mexico, Rodriguez-Fragoso’s team had previously found that free radicals were associated with activation of cellular mechanisms that lead to tumor development. “The question then was, does having more CYP2E1 make you more susceptible to ethanol-induced toxicity, thereby increasing your risk of developing cancer?”

CYP2E1 is found in breast cells known as mammary epithelial cells, which are also where most breast cancers originate, suggesting to the researchers that CYP2E1 may be involved in breast cancer development. To test this hypothesis, the researchers administered ethanol to separate cultures of mammary epithelial cells that had varying levels of CYP2E1. Cells that expressed low levels of CYP2E1 were mostly immune to the effects of the ethanol treatment; however, cells with increased amounts of CYP2E1 protein were greatly affected, suggesting that women with higher expression levels of the protein would show similar responses.

Significantly, points out Rodriguez-Fragoso, “our results showed that ethanol-treated human mammary cells had an increase in free radical production, oxidative stress and the activation of cellular mechanisms that cause cells to increase their proliferation rate,” all hallmarks of cancer. “So if you are a woman who naturally expresses higher levels of CYP2E1 and you consume alcohol, you would be at a greater risk for developing breast cancer than a woman who expresses lower amounts of CYP2E1,” she explains.

A few months ago, the group started investigating CYP2E1 expression levels in breast tissue obtained from healthy women who had undergone mammaplasties. “Preliminary results show that there is great variability in the expression of this enzyme among the analyzed samples,” says Rodriguez-Fragoso. “This means that each individual will have a different response to alcohol, and each should take different precautions to minimize their risk of developing breast cancer.”

With these results in hand, Rodriguez-Fragoso expressed confidence that her group will be able to develop a method of diagnosis that would focus on the determination of expression levels of CYP2E1 in breast tissue. “If you know the risk probability of certain behaviors on your likelihood of developing cancer, then you can better understand what preventative measures you should be taking,” she emphasizes.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that breast cancer will be responsible for nearly 40,000 deaths this year alone, with an additional 220,000 diagnoses. “If we can prevent the development of breast cancer associated with alcohol intake by timely diagnoses of markers such as CYP2E1,” says Rodriguez-Fragoso, “then the annual numbers of new cases and deaths could be diminished significantly.”

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
11200 Rockville Pike, Suite 302
Rockville, MD 20852-3110
United States

Ph: (240) 283-6600

Study shows that minors who recognize ads for beer and spirits are more likely to drink

Minors who were familiar with television alcohol advertisements were more likely to have tried alcoholic beverages and binge drink than those who could not recall seeing such ads, according to a study to be presented Sunday, April 29, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston.

“Underage drinking remains an important health risk in the U.S.,” said lead author Susanne E. Tanski, MD, MPH, FAAP, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. “In this study, we have shown a link between recognition of nationally televised alcohol advertisements and underage drinking initiation and heavier use patterns.”

Previous research by Dr. Tanski and her colleagues showed an association between seeing smoking and drinking in movies and adolescents engaging in these risky behaviors. This study expanded on that research by exploring whether there is an association between young people’s exposure to television alcohol advertising and substance use.

The researchers surveyed a national sample of 2,541 youths ages 15 to 20 years. Participants were asked about their age, gender, race, if their friends drank, if their parents drank, whether they had a favorite alcohol ad and whether they owned alcohol-branded merchandise. They also were asked questions to assess whether they engaged in “sensation-seeking” behavior.

Participants then were shown 20 still images selected from television ads for the top beer and spirit alcohol brands that aired on national television in the year before the survey as well as 20 ads for fast-food restaurants. The images were digitally edited to remove the brands and logos. Individuals were asked if they remembered seeing the ad, if they liked the ad and if they knew the product or restaurant being advertised.

Results showed that 59 percent of underage youths previously drank alcohol. Of those who drank, 49 percent binge drank (had more than six drinks in a row) at least once in the past year.

Familiarity with TV alcohol advertising was significantly higher for drinkers than for non-drinkers. Other factors linked with drinking alcohol included older age, seeing alcohol in movies, having a favorite alcohol ad, having greater propensity for sensation seeking, having friends who drink alcohol, and having parents who drink alcohol at least weekly.

Among those who drank alcohol, familiarity with TV alcohol advertising was linked with greater alcohol use and binge drinking. Other factors linked with more hazardous drinking included owning alcohol-branded merchandise, having a favorite alcohol ad, older age, male gender, sensation seeking and friend drinking.

Familiarity with fast-food TV advertising was not linked to drinking behavior, suggesting that the relationship between alcohol ad familiarity and drinking is specific and not due to overall familiarity with advertising, Dr. Tanski said.

“At present, the alcohol industry employs voluntary standards to direct their advertising to audiences comprised of adults of legal drinking age,” Dr. Tanski said. “Our findings of high levels of familiarity with alcohol ads demonstrate that underage youth still frequently see these ads. While this study cannot determine which came first — the exposure to advertising or the drinking behavior — it does suggest that alcohol advertising may play a role in underage drinking, and the standards for alcohol ad placement perhaps should be more strict.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics
141 Northwest Point Boulevard
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-1098
United States

847/434-4000

Four in ten hepatitis C patients who drank alcohol refrained from it as part of a Duke pilot program that integrates alcohol and hepatitis C treatments. Led by DGHI researcher Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell and Duke physician Andrew Muir, the dual model of care may be a viable option for steering these patients away from alcohol, who may otherwise develop serious health complications that lead to liver failure or death.

The Duke study, featured in the April issue of Digestive Diseases and Sciences, involved hepatitis C patients from the Duke Liver Clinic who received both alcohol treatment and medical care over a six-month period. Of the 53 alcohol-drinking patients in the study, 44 percent had stopped drinking alcohol by the end of the six months. Patients who did not become abstinent by six months still reported a 30 percent drop in alcohol consumption, spending on alcohol and urges to drink.

“We were able to show that integrated hepatitis C-alcohol care is feasible,” said Proeschold-Bell, a DGHI faculty member at the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research. “More than that, the study shows that such integrated care results in alcohol reductions that benefit patient health.”

Researchers say the intervention worked in part because it focused on liver health, rather than simply reducing alcohol use. It involved weekly group therapy and bi-weekly individual sessions customized to each patient that address alcohol use, nutrition, stress and family support. Because knowledge alone does not change behavior, the addictions specialist taught patients practical ways to improve other aspects of their lives based on their individual circumstances. Study participants were also evaluated for mental illness and had access to a psychiatrist for care, if needed.

The research team also found ways to increase communication and collaboration between the patient’s hepatologist and addictions specialist, a critical part of the study.

“We didn’t know the extent to which we could get busy medical providers and addictions specialists to collaborate. We had to find ways to fit the collaboration into the clinic flow,” said Proeschold-Bell. “In some instances, we had the addictions specialist use a laptop outside the patient exam rooms so medical providers could easily access her and her knowledge about the patient’s alcohol use and behavior changes.”

To date, studies have shown that adults with hepatitis C are three times more likely to have at least one alcoholic drink a day and almost eight times more likely to have at least three drinks a day, compared to adults without hepatitis C. The combination of alcohol use and hepatitis C speeds the time to liver failure and increases rates of liver fibrosis and cancer.

As strong proponents of clinic-based alcohol treatment, Proeschold-Bell and Muir hope to pursue a larger study that recruits patients from the Duke Liver Clinic, the UNC Liver Clinic and the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

“Alcohol treatment needs to occur in a trusted and known setting,” said Muir. “This study shows that patients will attend alcohol treatment offered in the liver clinic setting and try to change their behaviors in the context of their lives beyond alcohol use.”

Duke Global Health Institute
Trent Hall
310 Trent Drive
Durham, North Carolina 27710
United States

Telephone: 919-681-7760

A Loyola University Medical Center study has found that binge drinking may slow recovery and increase medical costs for survivors of burn injuries. The study was presented during the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Burn Association in Seattle.

Loyola researchers compared burn patients who were intoxicated above the legal limit with burn patients who had no alcohol in their blood. Although the binge drinkers’ injuries were much less severe than those of other patients admitted to Loyola’s Burn Unit, the binge drinkers experienced similar rates of sepsis and pneumonia and spent similar amounts of time on the ventilator, in the ICU and in the hospital.

The hospital bill for burn-injured binge drinkers was a median of $221,000, which was nearly as high as the bill for non-drinkers with much more serious burns.

“Among binge drinkers, even relatively minor injuries can result in serious complications and prolonged hospital stays,” said senior author Elizabeth J. Kovacs, PhD, director of research of the Burn & Shock Trauma Institute of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and director of Loyola’s Alcohol Research Program.

Kovacs and colleagues followed 53 patients who came to Loyola with inhalation injuries. Twelve patients had blood alcohol contents greater than 0.08 percent, the legal limit for driving. Four patients had lower blood alcohol counts and 37 patients had no alcohol in their blood. The finding that 30 percent of burn patients had been drinking is similar to findings of earlier studies.

On average, non drinkers were burned over 24.9 percent of their bodies, compared with only 10.6 percent in binge drinkers.

“We suspect the reason binge drinkers have smaller burns is because those with more severe injuries were unable to escape, due to their intoxication,” said Christopher S. Davis, MD, MPH, first author of the study.

Davis said there are three likely reasons why binge drinkers experienced such difficult recoveries, despite their relatively minor injuries:

Intoxication weakens the immune system at a critical time, slowing the healing process and making patients more prone to infections.
While hospitalized, chronic alcohol abusers go through withdrawal. Consequently, they may become agitated and uncooperative — by, for example, removing a breathing tube or not participating in rehabilitation.
Carbon monoxide poisoning levels in binge drinkers were more than four times higher than levels in non drinkers, probably because it took binge drinkers longer to escape. Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause brain damage and other effects that complicate recovery.

Researchers wrote that their findings “affirm the impact of alcohol intoxication at the time of burn and smoke inhalation injury, placing renewed emphasis on injury prevention and alcohol abuse education.”

Loyola University Health System
2160 South First Ave.
Maywood, Illinois 60153
United States

Despite being illegal for over a century, drunk driving remains a serious problem.

The nation’s first law dealing with drunk drivers was introduced in New York more than a century ago in 1910. Yet despite every single state and territory in the Union having laws against drunk driving on the books, it remains a significant problem on American roads more than 100 years later.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that alcohol-impaired motor vehicle crashes have a cost to our economy of more than $37 billion each and every year. And did you know that in 2010, more than 10,000 people were killed in crashes involving drunk drivers? That works out to one American killed by a driver under the influence every 51 minutes.

Some other eye opening – and sobering, although we don’t find much to laugh about when it comes to impaired driving, despite the pun – statistics about driving under the influence include:

# Even at blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels as low as .02%, alcohol affects driving ability and increases crash likelihood.
# The probability of a crash begins to increase significantly at .05% BAC and climbs rapidly after about .08% BAC.
# Alcohol impairment among drivers involved in fatal crashes is about four times higher at night than during the day.
# More than 30 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes on weekends are alcohol-impaired.
# 43 percent of motorcycle riders who died in crashes occurring in 2009 had a BAC of .08 or above.
# Nearly 12 percent of all traffic crash injuries involve alcohol.
# High BAC drivers (.15 or above) account for more than half of all the alcohol-related traffic fatalities.
# Safety belts were used by only 34% of fatally injured drivers with BAC levels of .08 or higher.
# Nearly three-fourths of drivers convicted of driving while impaired are either frequent heavy drinkers or alcoholics.

Seven Tips for Getting the Keys Away

At some point, each of us will likely experience a time when we should step in to ensure someone we know doesn’t get behind the wheel after they’ve had too much to drink. NHTSA conducted focus group research on making interventions and getting the keys away from someone that’s about to drive drunk. Here are seven tips to take to make certain a friend, family member or someone you don’t even know doesn’t drive drunk:

# If they’re a close friend, take a soft, calm approach, at least initially. Suggest to them they’ve had too much to drink, and that they’d be much better off if someone else drove them home or if they took a cab.
# Always remain calm. Try to joke and make light of the situation, rather than just lecturing.
# Your approach should be couched in making it sound as if you’re doing them a huge favor. And in truth, you are by ensuring they don’t put themselves or others at risk on the roads.
# If you don’t know the inebriated person very well, get their friends involved to help get them to hand over their keys. The pitch has a higher chance of success if someone close to and familiar to the driver is present.
# For good friends, spouses or significant others, let them know that if they insist on driving, you’re going with them. Suggest they let someone else drive them or walk instead.
# Find a way to preoccupy the potential drunk driver. Once they’re busy worrying about something else, locate the keys to their car and take them away. They’ll likely believe them to be lost, and will have no choice but to find another mode of transportation.
# Avoid confrontation or judgement. Alcohol is a depressant, but it’s also prone to cause violence at the drop of a hat.

CarInsurance.org
United States

(It’s been several years since we discussed the impact of the U-District’s Alcohol Impact Area designation on Wallingford. As a refresher, in 2006 the city declared the University District an AIA, which meant that stores in that area are forbidden from selling 29 different types of fortified wine, beer and malt beverages favored by alcoholics for their high alcohol-to-cost ratio (e.g., Steel Reserve, Colt 45, Night Train Express). Unfortunately, this has meant that those spending their time in the U-District (or around the highway ramps at 45th St and 50th St) need only stumble towards the 7-Eleven or the 50th Street Market in Wallingford to sate their thirst.

Lisa De Alva has been seeking to raise awareness of the impact of this situation on she and her neighbors in Wallingford, and petitioning the city to extend the boundaries of the AIA to include Wallingford.)

My name is Lisa De Alva and I moved to Wallingford in 1997, when I bought a house near 50th and Thackeray. I and my housemates enjoyed living in such a friendly, walkable and safe neighborhood. The tenor of the area began to change several years later when neighbors began to report some property crimes: a car was stolen from in front of a home on Thackeray and we discovered 47th between Thackeray and Latona was a “parking spot” for working girls to ply their trade. We also started having some issues with the occasional drunks using our properties for hangout spots after having frequented the 7-Elevent or the 50th Street Market. We were all instructed to call 911 whenever this would happen, which we did, but two guys took exception to that and set my car on fire. This was observed at around 5 a.m. one October morning as my neighbor across the street was heading to work. What on earth had changed?

The situation got even worse in 2006 when the city implemented an Alcohol Impact Area in the U-District, in order to prevent the chronic public inebriation that was present in that area and in an effort to clean up the Ave in particular. Unfortunately, the AIA’s boundaries were 60th/Ravenna to the north, 15th to the east, Northlake/Pacific to the south and Latona to the west. I have never been able to find anyone to take responsibility for these designations, but it slays me that the western boundary borders an elementary school and is a mere two blocks from the 7-Elevent and the 50th Street Market! What has happened in the intervening years is that the U-District’s street drunk problem became ours. We have had a veritable “drunk highway” up 50th from the freeway where the street drunks panhandle at the exit, then take their profits and spend them at these two markets.

We started trying to get something done about this in 2008/2009, but to no effect. A very pleasant surprise occurred in 2010 when Mr. Henry Ong of the 7-Eleven agreed to stop selling fortified alcohol if the 50th Street Market would also stop. Conversations with the Changs, the newest owners of the 50th Street Market, didn’t get any results. Representatives of the City (including Tim Burgess) came and walked the neighborhood to observe what was happening. We were told to coordinate with a Tim Durkan who was the Lake Union District Coordinator for the city. He was very sympathetic, but couldn’t do anything. We tried enacting a Good Neighbor Agreement, but that was a non-starter, too. We polled the neighborhood to find out what sorts of grocery items everyone would purchase on a regular basis if they were available at the 50th Street Market and presented the list to the owners, but apparently the fortified alcohol, statues of cobras and “Scarface” posters make them more profit. Frustration was mounting and we were all getting tired of the situation. You can only clean up vomit, feces, urine, blood, trash, used syringes and booze cans for so long. And when these people take up residence on your stairs or physically attack each other or shoot-up drugs or pass out in your yard or intimidate you so that you are afraid to enter your own property, enough is enough.

I’ve been having trouble trying to find out who we could appeal to to get the western boundary of the U-District AIA moved further west, beyond the retailers of the fortified alcohol, but whether it was the Washington State Liquor Control Board or if it’s the city was still a bit of a mystery. Each entity refers to the other in this matter.

A few weeks ago, I went down to the mayor’s office to try and get someone, ANYONE, to help. I kept getting brushed off by the receptionist, so I got louder and upped the volume until someone came out to shut me up. Within five minutes, Mr. Darryl Smith, Deputy Mayor of Community, appeared with an assistant in tow. I explained our situation and he said he was aware there was a lot of unhappiness with several current AIA situations and he promised to look into it and get back to me.

I received an e-mail shortly thereafter from Mr. Smith’s executive assistant, Julie Salinas, in which she said they were working on gathering information on how we could get the western boundary of the AIA expanded. I next heard about six weeks later in which she attached some information that indicated the Liquor Control Board sets the boundaries and must approve the ordinance to expand and that the Seattle City Council needs to approve the ordinance to expand.

First, the LCB would need evidence presented to demonstrate why the boundary needs to be expanded. Then, I made the acquaintance of Lisa Uemoto through an SPD officer and also through a LCB officer. Ms. Uemoto used to be involved in with neighborhood business and AIA-related issues and she sent me a couple attachments with good information about the AIA. She also told me now is a good time to deal with this as Beacon Hill is inthe process of adding yet another AIA and that Lake City was being proactive about this, as well. As luck would have it, a news article from the P.I. on April 3rdn detailed Lake City’s actions regarding their public inebriate problem and Darryl Smith even made an appearance at a public gathering there in support.

Neighbors in my part of Wallingford have been documenting this problem for the last several years , but we haven’t really gotten any action yet. I was curious how other parts of Wallingford were dealing with this situation and what their input might be regarding an expansion of the Western boundary. Also, with the new liquor law going into effect, how do you think that will affect us all?

Wallyhood
Wallingford
Seattle
United States

Addiction to alcohol or drugs are a painful and destructive symptom of our times. Not everyone who drinks or takes drugs has an addiction but for those that become addicted problems of potentially life destroying magnitude easily start occurring. Becoming addicted to anything alters normal rational behavior and in many cases where the next shot is coming from often becomes more important than earning food for one’s family.

One of the other things about most addicted people is that they usually want to be free of “the monkey on their back”. No one likes being enslaved and if only they had the will power to say no then they could. But it is not easy. In fact recovering from an addiction is virtually impossible without a helping hand. Take the relatively mild addiction to cigarettes. Most smokers wish to quit or at least cut down and control their smoking to a couple on occasion. Many try and most fail. Some chew gum, others try patches, some go to support groups and most end up still smoking,

Quitting alcohol or opiates once they have their hooks in is at least 20 times harder. It follows therefore that getting free of an addiction needs a helping hand. The Christian Drug Rehab Florida offers such help. On its own it is not a drug treatment center but it is a group of caring Christian people who are committed to giving a friendly hand to any one suffering from an addiction who really wishes to become free again.

The Christian drug treatment Florida offers their time free of charge. The counsellors and staff are all qualified and offer their services voluntarily in order to assess the problem and treatment required and then will assist the person to get treatment at a suitable clinic which is affordable to them.

This is a major aspect of their program. Many addicts have destroyed their personal finances and alienated their families, are no longer employed and do not have medical insurance. Most of the top drug treatment clinics are commercial ventures which require payment for the treatment given.

The Christian drug rehabilitation Florida has contacts with many clinics who offer addiction treatment free of charge or at on a sliding scale depending on the ability of the patient to pay. They also will help their patients to apply for “scholarships” in the event of need. These free or low cost clinics do not offer inferior treatment at all and the methods used are state of the art.

In order to qualify to join the Christian drug rehab Florida all the patient has to do is to really commit to getting clear of the addiction. It does require courage because there will undoubtedly be periods of anguish and withdrawal but with the caring help of the staff and the loving hand of the Almighty each patient can potentially get through and emerge from the clinics and the counselling free of the curse of an addiction.

These are the first steps on the road to recovery, Wanting to be free and asking for help.

Recovering Souls
Florida
United States

800-832-5250

Alcohol Awareness Month occurs every April and was founded and sponsored by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) is spending this month increasing public awareness about alcohol related issues including underage drinking, impaired driving and binge drinking.

Binge drinking is most commonly defined as men consuming five or more alcoholic drinks or women consuming four or more drinks within a short period of time. How does this definition differ from moderate drinking? Moderate drinking is one drink per day for most women, and no more than two drinks per day for men according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A standard drink is generally considered to be 12 ounces of beer at five percent alcohol, five ounces of wine at 12 percent alcohol, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits.

More than 38 million U.S. adults binge drink an average of four times per month, typically consuming eight drinks per episode according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). While binge drinking is more common among young adults ages 18 to 34, individuals over 65 years old report binge drinking more often, an average of five to six times a month. Midwest states, including Iowa, have among the highest binge drinking rates with approximately 18 to 26 percent of adults binge drinking, consuming an average of seven to nine drinks per episode.

# Age group with most binge drinkers: 18-34 years
# Age group that binge drinks most frequently: 65+ years
# Income group with most binge drinkers: $75,000+
# Income group that binge drinks the most frequently and drinks most per episode: less than $25,000

“Binge drinking, whether it’s done on a college campus or in a retirement community, has serious health risks,” ABD Administrator Stephen Larson said. “By increasing awareness of binge drinking, we hope to encourage Iowans to make safe and healthy decisions.”

Binge drinkers also put themselves and others at risk for many health and social problems, including car crashes, violence, liver disease, certain cancers, heart disease, sexually transmitted diseases, and both unintended and alcohol exposed pregnancies. Drinking too much, including binge drinking, causes 80,000 deaths in the U.S. each year and costs the economy nearly half a billion dollars annually (CDC).

Members of the public who are concerned about their own or someone else’s binge drinking can call 1–800–662–HELP to receive assistance from the National Drug and Alcohol Treatment Referral Routing Service.

Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division
1918 SE Hulsizer Road, Ankeny, IA 50021
United States
Toll Free 866.IowaABD (866.469.2223)

Researchers at The Miriam Hospital say interventions targeting what college students often see as the pleasurable effects of alcohol – including loosened inhibitions and feeling more bold and outgoing – may be one way to stem the tide of dangerous and widespread binge drinking on college campuses.

According to a new report, “alcohol expectancy challenges,” or social experiments aimed at challenging students’ beliefs about the rewards of drinking, can successfully reduce both the quantity of alcohol consumed and the frequency of heavy or binge drinking among college students.

The findings are published online by the Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

“We know drinking habits can be influenced by what people expect will happen when they consume alcohol, so if you believe alcohol gives you ‘liquid courage’ or that drinking helps you ‘fit in’ or be more social, you’re likely to drink more,” said the study’s lead author, Lori A.J. Scott-Sheldon. Ph.D., of The Miriam Hospital’s Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine

“If we can prove to students that many of the perceived positive side effects of alcohol are actually due to their expectations, rather than the alcohol itself, then we could potentially reduce frequent binge drinking and its negative consequences,” she added.

Drinking is pervasive on most college campuses in the United States. Data from several national surveys indicate that about four in five college students drink and that about half of college student drinkers engage in heavy episodic consumption. Excessive alcohol use is associated with a number of short- and long-term consequences, including academic problems, sexual assault, unsafe sex, injuries and violence, arrests, college attrition, alcohol abuse and dependence, and accidental death. As a result, reducing alcohol consumption by college students has been declared a public health priority by the Surgeon General.

Alcohol expectancy challenges have been designated by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as one of only three effective alcohol-prevention treatments for college students. During a typical expectancy challenge intervention, alcohol is provided to a group in a bar-like setting; some drinks contain alcohol while others are non-alcoholic, but the participants do not know which type of beverage they have. Students then engage in activities that promote social interaction, such as party games, and after some time, they are asked to evaluate whether other participants were drinking alcohol versus a placebo. In the majority of cases, groups had difficulty determining who actually received alcohol and who did not.

The challenge also offers an opportunity to educate college drinkers about alcohol expectancies, myths about the effects of alcohol, the pharmacology of alcohol and drinking responsibly.

Scott-Sheldon and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of 19 separate alcohol expectancy challenges among more than 1,400 college students across the country. Overall, participants reported lower positive alcohol expectancies and reduced both their alcohol use and their frequency of heavy drinking for as long as one month post-intervention.

In most cases, expectancy challenge interventions were delivered in three or fewer group sessions. Because it may not require as many resources as the more individualized strategies that are commonly used for college drinkers, Scott-Sheldon says colleges may find this approach a more attractive alternative.

“This relatively brief, group-based intervention is something that could be easily implemented within the context of campus group activities, such as the residence life program, student orientation or student organization events,” she said.

Because the effects of alcohol expectancy challenges are brief, researchers say providers might consider implementing these interventions before periods when students are more likely to engage in at-risk drinking behavior, such as spring break or “rush week” for fraternities or sororities.

The National Institutes of Health funded the study. Co-authors include Michael P. Carey, Ph.D., director of The Miriam Hospital’s Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine; Danielle L. Terry of Syracuse University; and Kate B. Carey, Ph.D., of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction at Brown University, and Lorra Garey of Brown University.

The principal affiliation of Lori A.J. Scott-Sheldon, Ph.D., is The Miriam Hospital (a member hospital of the Lifespan health system in Rhode Island). Scott-Sheldon is also an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior (research) at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

The Miriam Hospital
164 Summit Avenue
Providence, RI 02906
United States

401-793-2500

Tipping back one too many cocktails during an individual’s early 20s doesn’t correlate to a personal sense of immaturity; however if this habit doesn’t stop as they reach age 30, young adults can feel psychologically underdeveloped, according to a University of Missouri study. Helping young adults acknowledge their mental impulse to “sober up” as they mature can improve substance abuse intervention programs.

“When a heavy drinking 30-year-old comes in for therapy and says he doesn’t feel like an adult, we can present this study and suggest that cutting back on alcohol could help him feel more mature,” said lead researcher Rachel Winograd, a doctoral student in psychology at MU.

“People in their early 20s who accept their own heavy drinking and experience alcohol-related consequences may not realize that these behaviors can be associated with identity issues later on,” said Winograd. “We can apply this research to nip the problem in the bud and help young adults become aware that their alcohol use behaviors may conflict with their long-term goals.”

When more than 400 25-years-old adults were interviewed, some showed signs of alcohol use problems, but their problems didn’t correlate to self-reported feelings of immaturity. When surveyed again four years later at age 29 and then again at age 35, subjects expressed different sentiments: individuals who showed signs of alcohol abuse or dependence also self-reported feeling immature for their age.

“We interpreted our findings to suggest that, at 25, drinking is more culturally acceptable,” Winograd said. “Young adults are out at the bars with their friends and drinking is a bonding experience. They also view blacking out, vomiting and drunk driving as more acceptable because peers are behaving similarly.

“But by 29, when many of their peers have settled down, individuals who still drink heavily may start to view themselves as ‘Peter Pans’ of partying, who never fully matured,” Winograd said.

The study relied on data collected from a group, which was studied since they were college freshmen in 1987 by Kenneth Sher, Winograd’s adviser, study co-author and curators’ distinguished professor of psychological sciences. Previous studies examined this group’s attitudes toward drinking when they were younger.

“This study picked up where studies of adolescents left off,” Winograd said, “There seems to be a window of time in the early to mid-20s when drinking is not associated with immaturity. Before and after that window, excessive alcohol use is associated with a lower self-reporting of maturity, according to our results and previous studies.”

Having data from previous studies going back to 1987 about the same group of young adults was an important resource for the new study. Unless there has been a major cultural shift in attitudes, examining the same group as they mature over the years is almost always better for this type of study than surveying different age groups at the same time, said Sher.

“Most critically, it allows us to assume that age differences in the size or direction of an effect is associated with developmental change and not related to sampling biases associated with sampling two different age groups,” said Sher.

The study “Do People Who ‘Mature Out’ of Drinking See Themselves as More Mature?” was published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. In addition to Winograd and Sher, psychology doctoral student Andrew Littlefield also was an author.

University of Missouri
Columbia
MO 65211
United States

Phone: 573-882-6333