Study finds heavy drinking harms others, not just the drinker

By Stephen Beech

Heavy drinking students damage their pals' physical and mental health as well as their own, according to new research.

The harms of incessant boozing among college students - such as lower grades, mental distress and even suicidal thoughts - are linked to being exposed to a drinker’s poor behavior, say scientists.

One-in-three college-age students said they had "babysat" drinkers during the current academic year.

The study was conducted by the Alcohol Research Group, a non-profit research organization based in Emeryville, California.

Lead researcher Dr. Pamela Trangenstein said: “We often think of alcohol’s harms as physical or social, but this was the first study to assess academic harms from others’ drinking, like having to drop a class or take on extra work.

“These harms were relatively rare yet had some of the strongest links to lower college satisfaction, poorer academic performance and worse mental health.”

Dr. Trangenstein and her colleagues surveyed 1,822 first and second year college students.

The team asked about five harms the participants may have experienced from others’ drinking: being harassed, being physically harmed, experiencing unwanted sexual contact, experiencing academic harms, and “babysitting” the drinker.

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The researchers also asked students about their own academic satisfaction and performance and supplied questionnaires to ascertain the students’ mental health status.

The findings, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, showed that, overall, more than one-in-three participants said they had babysat drinkers during the current academic year.

Nearly 15% said they had been harassed, around 5% said they had experienced unwanted sexual contact or been physically assaulted by someone under the influence of alcohol, and 3% reported some form of academic harm.

The findings showed that different harms were linked to different aspects of academic performance and mental health outcomes.

Being harassed was associated with a 43% decreased likelihood of overall satisfaction with college as well as a 74% increased likelihood of suicidal thoughts.

Those who were assaulted by drinkers were 58% less likely to have a higher grade.

Students who experienced unwanted sexual contact were almost three times as likely to have signs of depression.

Study co-author Dr. David Jernigan, of Boston University School of Public Health, said: “Colleges should use these findings to partner with policymakers in support of measures like increasing alcohol taxes, limiting alcohol availability and restricting marketing, all of which can help safeguard students’ health and academic success."

He added that colleges can offer alcohol-free residence halls for those concerned about being exposed to the behavior of drinkers.