Researchers know that the number of alcohol outlets in a given geographic area, referred to as alcohol-outlet density (AOD), is associated with a number of adverse health and social consequences. A new study of the relationship between AOD and intimate partner violence (IPV) – both male-to-female partner violence (MFPV) and female-to-male partner violence (FMPV) – has found that MFPV is more likely in neighborhoods where more alcohol is sold through liquor stores, bars, restaurants and other drinking places.

Results will be published in the January issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

“We had detailed data on IPV in couples,” explained Christy McKinney, faculty associate at the University of Texas School of Public Health, Dallas Regional Campus as well as corresponding author for the study. “By linking this information to AOD, we were ideally situated to address an understudied question using individual and couple-level data. We thought that greater alcohol availability could increase drinking which, in turn, could increase IPV.”

“Until now we did not know that community alcohol environments could be related to IPV,” said Paul J. Gruenewald, senior research scientist at the Prevention Research Center. “With this study we get the first indication that, at least for men, greater availability of alcohol from bars and other on-premise drinking places may be linked to domestic violence. This is a troubling observation because drinking at bars, for example, has also been linked to greater rates of child abuse and other forms of violence in our communities.”

McKinney and her colleagues used three sets of data: individual and couple-level socio-demographic and behavioral data from a 1995 national population-based sample of 1,597 couples were linked to the 1990 U.S. Census for zip-code level socio-demographic data, and the 1997 U.S. Department of Commerce economic census report for alcohol-outlet data. The researchers assessed the relationship between AOD and MFPV or FMPV, as well as the role of binge drinking or alcohol-related problems on that relationship.

“We found that as alcohol availability increases, the more likely it is that couples will experience MFPV,” said McKinney. Specifically, an increase of 10 alcohol outlets per 10,000 persons was associated with a 34-percent increased risk of MFPV.

“This finding is particularly important to alcohol researchers because it begins to indicate that some important social mechanisms underlie the roles that alcohol outlets play in community problems,” said Gruenewald. “Drinking is clearly a risk factor for IPV. But it also appears that the use of on-premise drinking places for drinking may be an added risk. Neighborhoods with many alcohol outlets seem likely to have more problems related to drinking, including several different forms of alcohol-related violence.”

“We also found that the relationship between alcohol availability and MFPV was stronger for couples who had alcohol-related problems than for couples with no such problems,” McKinney added. “However, because this study is cross-sectional and we asked about IPV and alcohol-related problems at the same time, we do not know which came first.”

“We need to begin to identify the specific relationships of drinking in alcohol outlets to incidents of male and female partner violence,” suggested Gruenewald. “We need to identify how these drinkers use outlets, determine how the use of outlets disinhibits constraints on partner violence, and assess the ways in which greater numbers of outlets increase these risks.”

McKinney hopes that this study, the first study to measure the relationship between alcohol availability and IPV with both individual and couple-level data, will help guide policy makers in their decisions about alcohol availability in neighborhoods.

Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER) is the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Co-authors of the ACER paper, “Alcohol availability and intimate partner violence among US couples,” were: Raul Caetano, T. Robert Harris and Malembe S. Ebama of The University of Texas Houston School of Public Health, Dallas Regional Campus. The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Source: Christy McKinney, Ph.D., M.P.H.


University of Texas Houston School of Public Health

Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research

New guidelines have been written which will assist nightclub staff in deciding whether to call ambulances for unwell clubbers. At present, there is a worry that inappropriate management has lead to clubbers only being referred to hospital after significant problems have occurred – leading to increased risk of injury and death.

The proposed guidelines were co-written by medics, police officers and bar owners and are published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy. Many clubs have designated ‘club medic’ rooms where individuals with recreational drug toxicity can be assessed and managed. According to the study’s coordinator and consultant physician and clinical toxicologist Dr. David Wood from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Poisons Unit at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, “In the past, club owners and promoters have been reluctant to call an ambulance for clubbers with recreational drug toxicity because of concerns that this could affect their license”.

Dr. Wood describes his research as aiming “to work with key stakeholders in the pre-hospital setting to develop strategies to improve pre-hospital care for these clubbers. This includes developing ambulance-transfer guidelines and the training of ‘club medic’ staff”.

The research team visited club medic rooms in various London nightclubs to assess the resources available and the medical training of the club medic staff.

The guidelines were then developed to advise club medics to call an ambulance if the patient meets any of ten defined criteria, including: being unresponsive; chest pain similar to a heart attack; or high blood pressure/heart rate/temperature. ‘If in doubt, call an ambulance’ is the last point in the guide. The guidelines were audited and revised using feedback from club medic staff. The authors also ran training in the use of the guidelines and in the management of recreational drug toxicity.

Previous studies by these authors have found the main drugs associated with ill health amongst clubbers in the area studied were GHB and stimulants such as ecstasy and cocaine. Typical effects of GHB include significant depression of central nervous function and respiration and effects seen with stimulant use include high temperature, heart-rate, blood pressure.

Dr. Wood added: “The guidelines we have described are designed to ensure that individuals with significant toxicity in these categories are easily identified and that an ambulance is called so that they receive appropriate and timely assessment and management in a hospital environment.”

Notes:

1. Improvement in the pre-hospital care of recreational drug users through the development of club specific ambulance referral guidelines
David M Wood, Shaun L Greene, Graham Alldus, Denise Huggett, Michelle Nicolaou, Kerry Chapman, Fiona Moore, Kim Heather, Nicola Drake and Paul I Dargan
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy (in press)

Article available at the journal website:
substanceabusepolicy/

All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central’s open access policy.

2. As well as being published in Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy, these guidelines are being incorporated into Safer Nightlife. The purpose of Safer Nightlife is to help ensure the health and safety of everyone who goes out to pubs and clubs, with a particular emphasis on those who also take recreational drugs. The guide is based on the belief that the safety of pub and club goers is the responsibility of everyone involved in sanctioning, organising and running licensed premises which are open late. It brings together in one place up-to-date legislation, information and best practice for those working within the ‘nightlife’ environment.

3. Guy’s and St Thomas’ provides around ?? million patient contacts in acute and specialist hospital services every year. As one of the biggest NHS Trusts in the UK, it employs over 9,000 staff. The Trust works in partnership with the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Biomedical Sciences of King’s College London and other Higher Education Institutes to deliver high quality education and research. Website: guysandstthomas.nhs/

4. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy is an Open Access, peer-reviewed online journal that will encompass all aspects of research concerning substance abuse, with a focus on policy issues.

The journal aims to provide an environment for the exchange of ideas, new research, consensus papers, and critical reviews, to bridge the established fields that share a mutual goal of reducing substance abuse. These fields include: legislation pertaining to substance abuse; correctional supervision of substance abusers; medical treatment and screening; mental health services; research; and evaluation of substance abuse programs.

5. BioMed Central (biomedcentral/) is an independent online publishing house committed to providing immediate access without charge to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science.

Source: Graeme Baldwin


BioMed Central

In earlier studies, researchers at Louisiana State University had found that estrogen – or more precisely, having ovaries – made adult rats exposed for the first time to THC, the primary ingredient in marijuana and hashish, less sensitive to THC’s negative effects on tests of learning and memory.

A new study, reported at the Experimental Biology 2009 meeting in New Orleans, finds that when rats are first exposed to THC during the equivalent of adolescence, however, estrogen loses its protective effect. When these rats were again exposed to THC as adults, they performed more poorly on tests of learning and memory – diminished response time, increase in errors – than did similar rats that had not been exposed to THC when younger.

Dr. Peter Winsauer says these results indicate that the effects of THC and estrogen are different, depending on age, and, even more important, that THC use during adolescence, a critical period of development, has lasting effects on cognitive processes such as learning and memory. He believes that illicit use of THC during adolescence produces persistent changes in the brain that sensitize females to the negative effects of THC later in life.

Jessie Sutton, a research associate in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Winsauer, presented the findings April 19 at Experimental Biology 2009 as part of the scientific program of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

When a group of 12 female rats were 35 days old, an age equivalent to that of human teenagers about to undergo puberty, they began to be exposed to THC chronically for 40 days. Half had had their ovaries removed when they were 30 days old, half retained their ovaries. The day after the 12 females finished the period of exposure, they underwent an extensive training process consisting of pressing colored keys in a specific sequence in order to obtain food pellets. Then, as adults, they were challenged with different dosages of THC and tested with a learning task.

Also being trained in the learning and memory tasks was another group of 12 female rats, half with ovaries, half not, which had never been exposed to THC as adolescents.

All rats given THC did worse on tests than did similar animals receiving saline, and all showed a dose-dependent reaction: the more THC, the worse they performed. However, the rats that had been exposed to THC earlier in life performed significantly worse at the varying doses of THC than did the rats for which the adult exposure to THC was their first. This was true whether the animals had ovaries or not. Because of their earlier THC exposure, having ovaries did not bestow any benefit when exposed to THC as adults.

The study by Dr. Winsauer is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. The grant focuses on the interaction between gonadal hormones and cannabinoid abuse and the subsequent effects this interaction has on development as it relates to learning and memory. The investigators suspect that this interaction could set the stage for a lifetime of mental health issues such as drug taking or drug abuse. Medical student Jerielle Hulst also was a co-author on the paper, in addition to Ms. Sutton and Dr. Winsauer.

Source:
Sylvia Wrobel

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

For risk-takers and impulsive people, New Year’s resolutions often include being more careful, spending more frugally and cutting back on dangerous behavior, such as drug use. But new research from Vanderbilt finds that these individuals–labeled as novelty seekers by psychologists–face an uphill battle in keeping their New Year’s resolutions due to the way their brains process dopamine. The research reveals that novelty seekers have less of a particular type of dopamine receptor, which may lead them to seek out novel and exciting experiences–such as spending lavishly, taking risks and partying like there’s no tomorrow.

The research was published Dec. 31, 2008, in the Journal of Neuroscience.

The neurotransmitter dopamine is produced by a select group of cells in the brain. These dopamine-producing cells have receptors called autoreceptors that help limit dopamine release when these cells are stimulated.

“We’ve found that the density of these dopamine autoreceptors is inversely related to an individual’s interest in and desire for novel experiences,” David Zald, associate professor of psychology and lead author of the study, said. “The fewer available dopamine autoreceptors an individual has, the less they are able to regulate how much dopamine is released when these cells are engaged. Because of this, novelty and other potentially rewarding experiences that normally induce dopamine release will produce greater dopamine release in these individuals.”

Dopamine has long been known to play an important role in how we experience rewards from a variety of natural sources, including food and sex, as well as from drugs such as cocaine and amphetamine. Previous research has shown that individuals differ in both their number of dopamine receptors and the amount of dopamine they produce, and that these differences may play a critical role in addiction. Zald and his colleagues set out to explore the connection between dopamine receptors and the novelty-seeking personality trait.

“Novelty-seeking personality traits are a major risk factor for the development of drug abuse and other unsafe behaviors,” Zald and his colleagues wrote.

“Our research suggests that in high novelty-seeking individuals, the brain is less able to regulate dopamine, and this may lead these individuals to be particularly responsive to novel and rewarding situations that normally induce dopamine release,” Zald said.

Previous research in rodents showed that some respond differently to novel environments. Those who explore novel environments more are also more likely to self-administer cocaine when given the chance. Dopamine neurons fire at a higher rate in these novelty-responsive rodents, and the animals also have weak autoreceptor control of their dopamine neurons. Zald and colleagues speculated that the same relationships would be seen in humans.

The researchers used positron emission topography to view the levels of dopamine receptors in 34 healthy humans who had taken a questionnaire that measured the novelty-seeking personality trait. The questionnaire measured things such as an individual’s preference for and response to novelty, decision-making speed, a person’s readiness to freely spend money, and the extent to which a person is spontaneous and unconstrained by rules and regulations. The higher the score, the more likely the person was to be a novelty seeker.

The researchers found that those that scored higher on the novelty-seeking scale had decreased dopamine autoreceptor availability compared to the subjects that scored lower.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse funded the research. Zald is a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development investigator and is a member of the Vanderbilt Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience. His Vanderbilt co-authors were Ronald Cowan, Ronald Baldwin, M. Sib Ansari, Rui Li, Evan Shelby, Clarence Smith, Maureen McHugo and Robert Kessler from the departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Radiological Sciences. Patrizia Riccardi, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York, was also a co-author of the paper.

More Vanderbilt news is available on VUCast, vanderbilt/news.

Vanderbilt University

Educational leaders from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) believe teaching the subject of unhealthy substance use must be incorporated into internal medicine residency training and can be done within existing teaching venues. The findings, which currently appear on-line in BioMedCentral Medical Education, represent a national model for addressing this issue for internal medicine residents.

Unhealthy substance use can be serious and chronic and despite its prevalence and impact, medical education in this area remains lacking. Physicians need tools and expertise to address one of the most common and costly health conditions.

According to the authors, medical education has begun to address the need for physician training in unhealthy substance use. Formal curricula has been developed and evaluated, but broad integration into a busy residency program remains a challenge. In addition, many physicians fail to address substance use conditions due to discomfort with substance use-related patient discussions, deficient knowledge and clinical skills.

In order to address these issues, the BUSM researchers reviewed the development of unhealthy substance use related competencies, and describe a curriculum that integrates these competencies into internal medicine resident physician training. The researchers then outline strategies to facilitate adoption of such curricula by the residency programs. Their article also provides an outline for the actual implementation of the curriculum within the structure of a training program, with examples using common teaching venues. They describe and link the content to the core competencies mandated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

“The time is right to improve, and require excellence in residency training about unhealthy substance use in internal medicine residency training programs,” said lead author Angela Jackson, MD, Vice Chair for Education, department of medicine Director, Primary Care Training Program and an associate professor of medicine at BUSM. “Because clinical management for substance use is most effective when integrated with medical and other care, education should mirror this approach, integrating curricula on unhealthy substance use into overall residency training,” she added.

Funding for this study was provided by the Betty Ford Institute.

Source:
Gina DiGravio
Boston University Medical Center

The British Medical Association (BMA) is today (17 December 2004) calling1 on the Government to reduce the blood alcohol
concentration (BAC) level for driving from 80mg to 50mg per 100ml2. It has been estimated that a reduction to 50mg will
prevent around 50 drink-drive related deaths every year in Great Britain.

Drink driving continues to be a hazard on Scotland’s roads. In 2002, there were 820 accidents involving drink drivers, 40 of
these were fatal. In Scotland, more than 1,200 casualties were caused by drink driving, an increase of 3% in the last 10
years (1992 – 2002)4.

At the beginning of the New Year, The Road Safety Bill (Great Britain only) is due to have its second reading and, although
it contains some positive measures5 to enforce the law, there is no provision to reduce the BAC level.

The BMA is urging the Government to use this opportunity to save lives and not leave the drink-driving limit at 80mg. The
Association would also like to see provision in the Bill to allow the police to carry out roadside random breath tests6. This
measure is a vital element in deterring people from drinking and driving.

Scientific evidence from around the world has agreed that when a person’s alcohol level is over 50mg their driving is
impaired. Every year drink-driving causes around 560 deaths and 2,820 serious injuries7 in Great Britain.

Dr Bill O’Neill, Scottish Secretary of the BMA, said today:

“There is scope for change in Scotland’s relationship with alcohol. A culture of sensible drinking would bring benefits for
health. This initiative, validated by science and evidence, tackles one important aspect of excessive drinking.

“Sadly, drink driving continues to be a health risk on Scotland’s roads. Although it is the season to be merry, it is also a
time to be sensible. Enjoy the Festive Season but don’t drink and drive.”

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA’s Head of Science and Ethics, added:

“It’s too late to change the law for this Christmas but let’s make future seasons of goodwill safer for everyone.

“While the BMA believes that a further reduction in blood alcohol concentration levels will prevent deaths and reduce the
number of lives ruined, our overall message to drivers is ‘don’t drink when you drive’.

“The introduction of the current limit, backed up by police enforcement and TV and media education campaigns, led to a
dramatic fall in the number of deaths on the road, but over the past few years, deaths and serious injuries from
drink-driving have increased. We need a new impetus to reduce the toll of death and injury.”

The BMA is not suggesting a zero limit because there will be cases where an individual would register slightly above zero
even when they had not been drinking (diabetes and the use of mouthwash can both cause an above-zero level).

The BMA doubts whether an absolute zero would be enforceable and acceptable to the public but argues that a 50mg level, which
would bring the UK into line with most other European countries7, would be effective and beneficial.

Ends

Notes to editors:

1.The BMA has been calling for a reduction in BAC limit since 1990.

2 Currently the legal limit for BAC for driving is 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood.

3 paragraph 4.19, Tomorrow’s Roads: safer for everyone, Department of Transport, April 2004

4 Road Accidents Scotland 2003: Scottish Executive National Statistics

5 The Bill gives powers to enable the Secretary of State to require the worst offenders to re-take their driving test. The
Bill also amends the current drink drive rehabilitation scheme to improve take-up and introduces pilot schemes for alcohol
ignition lock devices which require a driver to pass a breath test before the engine will start.

6 The police do not have express powers to carry out targeted breath testing. At present the police can only carry out a
test if there has been a road traffic offence, an accident or if they suspect that the driver has been drinking. Random
breath testing would enable the police to breathylise people driving at locations where it is reasonable to assume an amount
of drinking may have taken place, eg near a pub.

7 Road Casualties in Great Britain 2003: Annual Report, Department for Transport, September 2004

8 The following European countries have limits of 50mg or lower: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden. Cyprus is in process of reducing to 50mg. Only UK, Ireland and Luxembourg remain at 80mg.

Please contact the BMA Scotland Press Office for the BMA brief on
drink-driving.

For more information please contact:
Scottish Press Office
Tel: 0131 247 3050/3052 Mobile: 07979 510421
Fax: 0131 247 3051
Email: press.scotlandbma
BMA Scottish Office
14 Queen Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1LL
Tel: (0131) 247 3000
Fax: (0131) 247 3001
email: info.edinburghbma
Web: bma/scotland
After 6.00 pm and weekends:
07979 510421

First year college students believe that occasional nonmedical use of prescription pain killers and stimulants is less risky than cocaine, but more risky than marijuana or consuming five or more alcoholic beverages every weekend, according to a new study published in the September issue of Prevention Science, the peer-reviewed journal of the Society for Prevention Research.

This is the first study to describe college students’ perceptions about the potential harmfulness of nonmedical use of prescription pain killers and stimulants. Previous studies with high school students show that beliefs about harmfulness of illicit drugs are related to drug use. Nonmedical use of pain killers and stimulants can be addictive and can cause serious problems requiring emergency room treatment.

The study by Amelia Arria, Ph.D., of the Center for Substance Abuse Research at the University of Maryland, also found that college students who can be described as “sensation-seekers” are more likely to use prescription drugs nonmedically; irrespective of how harmful they may perceive the drugs to be. Arria said “sensation-seekers are students who like novel experiences, who want to try something new and a little dangerous, like jumping off the highest diving board or placing themselves in high-risk situations. They are much more likely to use pain killers nonmedically even if they perceive the drugs to be quite harmful.”

Arria’s study, which was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, also found that students who perceive these drugs as relatively harmless are ten times more likely to use them than those who think that the drugs are extremely harmful.

“This study suggests that educating students about the potential harm that can be caused by nonmedical use of prescription drugs is important in reducing use of these drugs by college students. It also shows that getting the message to students who are sensation-seekers, who are a high risk group for all types of drug use, might be more of a challenge to prevention specialists” Arria said.

Research has shown that sensation-seeking peaks during the late teen years, which raises the possibility that students might become better equipped to make appropriate risk appraisals as they mature into college years. Arria’s paper supports that, based on the fact that for most students, perceived harmfulness may have had an influence on behavior, except among those with higher levels of “sensation-seeking.”

Anecdotal evidence suggests that most college students think it is safe to use prescription drugs nonmedically. This study does not support the anecdotal evidence. It found that among students who had an opportunity to use, two out of three associated a high risk of harm with occasional nonmedical use of prescription pain killers and stimulants.

Previous studies have shown that compared to non-users, those who use prescription pain killers and stimulants for nonmedical purposes tend to be White, male, and have a mother who has a bachelor’s degree or more. They also tend to have greater levels of other drug involvement, are more likely to be affiliated with Greek organizations and have decreased academic performance.

Arria’s research was based on personal interviews, including questions on drug use and sensation-seeking, with 1,253 students. The students also completed a web survey six months after the original interview, and had a follow-up interview at 12 months. The research was conducted between 2004 and 2006 at a large university, with a student body that is typical of state-funded institutions with respect to race, gender and socio-economic status.

Federal government figures show that nationally more than 175,000 emergency room admissions were related to the nonmedical use of pain killers and stimulants in 2005. The numbers are not limited to students alone.

Prevention Science is a peer-reviewed journal of the Society for Prevention Research (SPR). SPR is an international organization focused on the advancement of science-based prevention programs and policies through empirical research. The membership of the organization includes scientists, practitioners, advocates, administrators and policymakers who are concerned with the prevention of social, physical and mental health problems and the promotion of health, safety and well being.

11240 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030, 703-934-0160 X213, preventionresearch/

Source: Carol Vieira

Society for Prevention Research

College students disciplined for alcohol use are heavier drinkers than their peers, but brief, required counseling interventions help reduce their drinking and associated problems, say researchers.
Drunkenness, fighting, vandalism and other results of heavy drinking concern both college officials and police departments. College and university administrations are always looking for ways to reduce the damage caused by overdrinking.

A series of studies in the June issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests ways to do that.

Researcher Tracy O’Leary Tevyaw, Ph.D., and two colleagues from Brown University reported that students required by college disciplinary boards to attend alcohol intervention programs shared some characteristics with fellow students but differed in some other ways.

“Non-mandated students reported significantly higher grades in school and a lower percentage of heavy drinking days in the past month than mandated students,” says Tevyaw. They also scored lower on tests for alcohol-related problems.

Both sets of students perceived similar levels of drinking around them. They both estimated that the average college student downed an average of seven drinks per drinking session, leading Tevyaw to suggest that all students might benefit from these interventions.

Other researchers compared two different approaches to move students away from problem drinking.

Brian Borsari, Ph. D., of Brown and Kate B. Carey, Ph.D., of Syracuse University found that alcohol education and brief motivational interventions both helped students.

The alcohol education approach presented factual knowledge about alcohol and its effects without tying it either to individual drinking or to personal goals to cut alcohol use. The brief motivational interventions took the same information but placed it in the context of the students’ own experiences with alcohol: why they drink, how often, or what their blood alcohol levels are after heavy drinking.

This article continues in the Center for the Advancement of Health

By Aaron Levin, Science Writer
Health Behavior News Service

Young men who believe that happiness declines with age are more likely to engage in risky health behaviors such as binge drinking. Their misguided negative view of the aging process may act as a disincentive to behave ‘sensibly’ and encourage them to make the most of the present in anticipation of ‘miserable’ old age. These findings?? by Dr. John Garry and Dr. Maria Lohan from Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, are published online in Springer’s Journal of Happiness Studies.

Although the harmful effects of excessive drinking, smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise are widely publicized, significant numbers of young people binge-drink, smoke, and avoid fruit and vegetables as well as regular exercise. Could it be that young people’s risky health behaviors are linked to their perception of declining happiness with advancing age?

Garry and Lohan analyzed data from face-to-face interviews with over 1,000 citizens of Northern Ireland aged over 15 years. The participants were asked about their alcohol consumption, their fruit and vegetable intakes, whether or not they smoked, and how often they took part in vigorous exercise. The respondents were also asked to report how happy they currently felt, as well as to estimate how happy they expected to be at the age of 30 and 70. Those who were over 30 and/or 70 were asked to think back at how happy they were then. The authors also asked them to indicate how happy the average person of their age at age 30 is and how happy at age 70.

Young people wrongly believed that ageing is associated with a decline in happiness. Indeed, young people estimated that happiness declined with age, whereas in actual fact there was no difference between the self-reported happiness levels of young people and old people.

Just over half the respondents were categorized as binge drinkers – 59 percent of males and 45 percent of females. In particular, young men who were pessimistic about future happiness were more likely to binge-drink.

The authors believe their findings could help inform health campaigns aimed at reducing risky health behaviors in young people. They conclude: “Our findings confirm, in the case of binge drinking by men, that risky health behavior in youth is associated with an underestimation of happiness in old age. It may be worthwhile to emphasize, to young men in particular, the positive impact on their lives of reducing alcohol and inform them about happiness in old age.”

Reference:
1. Garry J & Lohan M (2009). Mispredicting happiness across the adult lifespan: implications for the risky health behaviour of young people. Journal of Happiness Studies DOI 10.1007/s10902-009-9174-1

Source:
Joan Robinson
Springer

Alcohol-impaired driving and associated motor-vehicle accidents are a major public-health problem. National studies have shown that approximately 25 percent of college students report that they have driven while intoxicated in the past month, and an even greater percentage report having driven after having any amount of alcohol and/or ridden with a driver believed intoxicated. A new study on how these behaviors may change as students move through their college years has found that prevalence and frequency of alcohol-related traffic-risk behaviors took a significant upturn when students turned 21 years old.

Results will be published in the August 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

“Drinking and driving endangers the safety of not only the drinking driver and passengers, but also other individuals on the road,” said Amelia M. Arria, director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development at the University of Maryland School of Public Health and corresponding author for the study. “College students have limited driving experience, making drinking and driving possibly even more hazardous. [While] other studies have examined drinking and driving among college students, to our knowledge this is the first to have examined how the behavior changes over time in the same sample of students.”

“Other studies have demonstrated that freshmen tend to drink more than upperclassmen,” added Robert B. Voas, senior scientist and director of the Impaired Driving Center at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. “This may have led some to the erroneous conclusion that existing college alcohol-safety programs are effective. This study tends to demonstrate that alcohol-related problem behaviors increase with age, perhaps due to greater opportunities for risk taking such as owning a car or the ability to patronize bars and purchase alcohol. If college programs were successful, we should be able to at least prevent an increase in risky drinking and driving during the period the students are at the university.”

Arria and her colleagues recruited 1,253 first-time, first-year students (645 females, 608 males) attending a large, mid-Atlantic university. All were invited to be interviewed annually for four years regarding their alcohol-related traffic risk behaviors (with 88-91% follow-up rates); access to driving a car was also determined annually. Three alcohol-related traffic risk behaviors were examined: riding with a driver who was under the influence of alcohol (RWID), driving after drinking any alcohol (DAD), and driving while intoxicated (DWI).

Results showed that risky alcohol-related traffic behaviors are quite common among college students. “In the preceding year, nearly half of underage students with access to a car drove after having anything to drink and one in five drove while intoxicated,” said Arria. “For instance, at 20 years of age, eight percent drove after drinking any alcohol, and 20 percent drove while intoxicated. Moreover, among all 20-year-olds – regardless of car access – 43 percent rode with an intoxicated driver.” Males were more likely to engage in these behaviors than females.

“There were noticeable increases in all three measures of alcohol-related traffic risk – RWID, DWI and DAD – when students reached the legal drinking age of 21,” said Arria. “Our findings call into question the assertions of some advocates who claim that lowering the drinking age to 18 would be a useful strategy for reducing harm associated with alcohol consumption. The present findings are consistent with numerous prior studies showing that increased availability of alcohol is associated with a greater level of problems especially underage drinking-and-driving fatal crashes.”

Both Voas and Arria said these findings support maintaining the minimum legal drinking age at 21. “In fact,” said Arria, “lowering the drinking age to 18 would likely result in a surge of alcohol-related traffic problems given that younger students would have even less driving experience.”

“The continued growth in the percentages of youths who are reporting dangerous drinking/driving behaviours over the time they are in the university suggests that existing university prevention programs are not very effective,” added Voas. “The high percentage of first-year students who engage in risky drinking/driving behaviors parallels previous studies showing that a high proportion of high-school students engage in such risk behaviours. While this is not new, it serves to emphasize the continuity of the problem. University administrations should become well aware of this problem and ensure it receives special attention when students arrive on campus.”

Arria agreed. “College administrators should be more proactive in their approach to reducing underage drinking through a multi-pronged approach that includes health professionals identifying and intervening with individuals who are at risk for alcohol-related problems, as well as parents expressing strong disapproval of underage drinking and accurately communicating the health and safety risks associated with underage alcohol use to their children. Law enforcement officials also have an important role, and perhaps it is time for increased levels of high-visibility enforcement of underage drinking laws to occur on or around college campuses.”

Arria said that she and her colleagues will continue to study the same cohort to examine post-college trends.

Source:

Amelia M. Arria, Ph.D.
University of Maryland School of Public Health


Robert B. Voas, Ph.D.
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation


Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research