Article Date: 10 Nov 2012

 

An increasing number of women entering young adulthood engage in heavy drinking behavior, placing them at risk of developing alcohol use disorders (AUDs) as well as other negative consequences such as sexual assault and physical injuries. Prior research has shown that college students drink more than their non-college peers. A new study of the influence of impulsivity-related traits and drinking motives on symptoms of alcohol dependence (AD) among college women has found that an impulsivity trait called ‘negative urgency’ predicted increases in AD symptoms. 

Results will be published in the February 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View. 

“In the last 30 years, young women have been ‘catching up’ to young men in that binge drinking has been increasing in this group,” said Monika Kardacz Stojek, a graduate student in the department of psychology at the University of Georgia as well as corresponding author for the study. “Drinking habits often form in young adulthood, so if a young person gets into the habit of drinking heavily, it may be harder for her to break this habit as an adult. Additionally, because of physiological differences between men and women, women may have more immediate and severe physical symptoms if they consume as much alcohol as a binge-drinking male peer in a short amount of time.” Read More…