Spring Break: The Negative Consequences of Heavy Drinking
The birds are chirping, the flowers are starting to bud, and all across American parents live in fear of that final zip of the suitcase. It’s Spring Break, and college students are making their plans. Every year, thousands of college students head out to party, and often amp up their alcohol intake with bad results.
Studies have shown that events like holidays and birthdays are a perfect setting for increased alcohol consumption for college students (Lewis et al., 2009; Perkins, 2002). The parties often result in negative consequences, and Spring Break is no exception. A recent study looked at how freshmen party during Spring Break, examining the association between alcohol intake and negative consequences (Lee, Lewis & Neighbors, 2009).
The researchers recruited 726 college freshmen. The freshmen completed a longitudinal web-based survey with measures of alcohol intake, and the participants in the study had qualified as heavy drinkers. To qualify as heavy drinkers, the students reported having one or more incidents of heavy drinking in the past month.
One week after Spring Break, the students were questioned about their typical weekly alcohol intake, or the average number of drinks per week during the past three months. They also inquired after the number of drinks during Spring Break, using a retrospective Timeline Feedback Report (Sobell & Sobell, 2002). Finally, the researchers assessed Spring Break alcohol-related negative consequences.
The results of the study show that 70 percent of the students drank during their Spring Break, with an average of 15.26 drinks consumed across ten days. 36 percent of participants reported having experienced at least one negative consequence as a result of drinking, and drinking during Spring Break was associated with negative consequences.
Students who were light drinkers at the time of Spring Break were more likely to experience negative consequences than those who were typically heavy drinkers.
Limitations of the study include a possible self-report bias, that light drinkers may have only limited drinking just before Spring Break and may not reflect a true light drinker. Also, the study examined only the general category of negative consequences, without defining type or severity of consequences.
The findings of the study indicate that negative consequences are associated with all drinking during Spring Break, but that they are especially a challenge for those identified as light drinkers in the weeks leading up to Spring Break.
Further research is required to see if the results translate across all types of drinkers, since the drinkers in this study were initially identified as heavy drinkers at baseline.
