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Related Experiment Videos

Drinking on campus: self-reports and breath tests.

Douglas J Beirness1, Robert D Foss, Muriel Vogel-Sprott

  • 1Traffic Injury Research Foundation of Canada, 171 Nepean Street, Suite 200, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. dougb@trafficinjuryresearch.com

Journal of Studies on Alcohol
|November 13, 2004
PubMed
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College student self-reports of heavy drinking (5+/4+ drinks) do not reliably indicate actual alcohol consumption patterns or high blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Many self-reported "heavy drinkers" had zero BAC, questioning the definition's validity.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Alcohol Research
  • Student Health

Background:

  • Surveys suggest over 40% of college students are "heavy" drinkers.
  • The common definition of heavy drinking is consuming 5+ drinks (men) or 4+ drinks (women) on an occasion in the past 2 weeks.
  • This definition's accuracy in reflecting actual alcohol use patterns and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is questioned.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate if the 2-week 5+/4+ drink criterion accurately characterizes college students' alcohol consumption patterns.
  • To determine if the 5+/4+ drinks per occasion criterion is a valid indicator of high blood alcohol concentration (BAC).

Main Methods:

  • 856 college students (70% male) were interviewed regarding their recent alcohol consumption.
  • Students provided breath samples to measure blood alcohol concentration (BAC) on the night of the interview.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Drinking patterns were assessed based on self-reports over the past 2 weeks and the interview night.

    • Main Results:

    • 49% of students self-identified as "heavy" drinkers had a zero BAC on the interview night.
    • Students reporting 5+/4+ drinks on the interview night had a mean BAC below 0.08%.
    • The majority of students (74.4%) had zero BAC, and 11.8% had BAC <0.05%; very high BACs (>0.15%) were rare (1.3%).

    Conclusions:

    • Self-reported heavy drinking (5+/4+ drinks in 2 weeks) is not a reliable measure of actual alcohol consumption patterns.
    • The 5+/4+ drinks per occasion criterion does not consistently correlate with high blood alcohol concentration (BAC).
    • Current definitions of heavy drinking among college students may require re-evaluation.