College Binge Drinking Affects Cognition, Behavior, Test Scores, and Other Critical Areas
Researchers are looking more closely at how binge drinking and impulsive behaviors affect college students, both in college and in their future lives, in hopes that the findings will encourage more policy-level and national decisions to prevent the dangerous and deadly behavior.
News reports on the Brain and Alcohol Research with College Students (BARCS) project, which is sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, show many relationships exist between binge drinking and college behaviors. Study partners are collaborating from Trinity College, Conn., in conjunction with the Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital, and Central Connecticut State University.
The study provides critical information because students in the age bracket of 18 to 24 years have the greatest tendencies to experiment with alcohol, and the highest chances of becoming dependent on alcohol. However, studies to pinpoint the effects of binge drinking on behavior and development at the brain level have been few.
The study shows a relationship exists between college students who binge drink and difficulty concentrating and paying attention. Problems remembering and learning have also been noted. Students’ grade point averages were lower in their first year of college if they participated in binge drinking activities.
From a behavioral perspective, students who binge drink may also have more impulsive-based personalities, meaning they may seek excitement in higher proportions and be less aware of how their actions affect others or what consequences may result from their actions.
The relationship between alcohol consumption and impulsivity also reflects aspects of a student’s family history. Those with impulsive personalities may be more likely to have family members who have abused alcohol, and may be more likely to develop an alcohol abuse problem themselves.
College females have a higher tendency to binge drink than males, but this is difficult to determine clearly because the level of alcoholic beverages a female needs to constitute a “binge” is slightly fewer than those a typical male would consume on a binge.
Findings from year three of the five-year study were presented at the annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society meeting and the Neuropsychological Society, in hopes of encouraging intervention-based efforts.
