A new study finds that college students with social anxiety and depression are more likely to be socially motivated to "warm up" or drink alcohol before attending social events and experience more negative consequences as a result. The findings highlight the need for mental health-focused interventions to address alcohol use.
Pre-drinking -- also known as "prep drinking," "pre-drinking" or "pre-drinking" -- refers to drinking before attending a social event, such as a party or a night out, and often further drinking at these events. It's a popular pastime among college students, with recent studies showing that more than 50% of college students have pre-drunk within the past 30 days.
Pre-gambling behaviors have been consistently associated with adverse alcohol-related consequences, such as academic and interpersonal problems, as well as increased risks of injury, physical and sexual assault, drunk driving, and blackouts. A new study examines college students' pre-drinking motivations, social anxiety and depression, and adverse outcomes in relation to pre-drinking in the past 30 days.
The researchers recruited 485 full-time undergraduate students, ages 18-24, who attended a large private university in the United States and reported engaging in presocial behavior at least once per week over the past month. The sample was primarily white (47.8%), female (67.2%), and cisgender.
The researchers used the Pre-Party Motivation Inventory (PMI) to assess four pre-party motivation subtypes: interpersonal enhancement (e.g., "Meet new people"), intimacy pursuit (e.g., "Increase the chance of striking up a conversation"), situational control (e.g., "So I can control my consumption"), and consumption barriers (e.g., "I can't buy alcohol at the destination because I'm underage"). They also measured social anxiety and depressive symptoms and used the Brief Youth Consequences Questionnaire (B-YAACQ) to assess consequences experienced in the first few days of social interaction.
Based on participants' responses, they were divided into four categories: 59.5% were classified as having mild/moderate social anxiety and depressive symptoms and moderate presocial motivation; 12.7% were classified as having mild social anxiety and depressive symptoms and low presocial motivation; 15.6% as having subclinical/high social anxiety and depressive symptoms and high presocial motivation; and 12.1% as having clinically high social anxiety and depressive symptoms and moderate presocial motivation.
Those with high rates of subclinical/social anxiety and depressive symptoms had the highest presocial motivation and the highest past month drinking-related consequences. They experienced an average of three and a half drinking-induced blackouts in the past month, which was significantly higher than any other group and almost twice as many as those in the mild/moderate social anxiety and depressive symptom groups. This group also reported more presocial motivations than any other group, particularly to enhance relationships and pursue intimacy.
In contrast, the group assessed as having mild symptoms of social anxiety and depression had significantly lower calculated blood alcohol levels (BAL) and reported the fewest alcohol-related consequences of all groups. However, the group's blood alcohol concentration still exceeded 0.08%.
The findings suggest that the co-occurrence of social anxiety and depression is an important consideration for targeted pre-social intervention.
"Our findings have important clinical implications," the researchers said. "Social anxiety and depressive symptoms are significant risk factors for presocial consumption and consequences." Interventions that have traditionally focused on the social motivations for drinking, such as social norms and interventions, could be better targeted at individuals with these symptoms, with more discussion around helping students get what they want from social media without relying on games to cope with their symptoms. "
The study was published in the journal Alcohol - Clinical and Experimental Research.