Controlled intoxication: the self-monitoring of excessive alcohol use within a New Zealand tertiary student sample

Drawn from a study aimed at exploring students' drinking behaviour and attitudes, this article focuses upon findings that revealed how heavy-drinking students monitored and managed their experiences of alcohol intoxication.

819 students residing within three university student residences were invited to participate in three phases of data collection. Utilising a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, a total of 15 focus group interviews and 18 indepth interviews were undertaken, and 501 students (61%) completed a written survey questionnaire.

Sixty percent of students agreed with the statement "I usually know beforehand if I am going to get drunk". One-half of male drinkers and one-third of female drinkers reported they were intoxicated on a weekly basis. When drinking to intoxication, the majority of students monitored a range of drinking effects (a total of 14 were identified) which they considered were signals for the need to either slow down or stop drinking.

The majority of drinkers in this study who consume alcohol with the intention of getting intoxicated, typically drink to a predetermined level of intoxication, and maintain that level by monitoring a range of drinking effects--this behaviour has been termed controlled intoxication. Future harm-minimisation strategies could be developed that encourage heavy-drinkers to adopt 'safer' drinking-effect signals as indicators to slow down or stop drinking.