Alcohol Gets the Best of the Young Drinkers!

Alcohol Gets the Best of the Young Drinkers!

            Alcohol and binge drinking seem to have great effect on the prefrontal neural system in the brain. Having effect on this part of the brain creates more impulsive characteristics in an individual leading to bad decision-making. This study measures bad-decision-making by unplanned sexual encounters. Ninety-two students completed a survey on alcohol use, which measured the amount of alcohol each individual consumed and rated their binge drinking.  The students were then separated into two groups the low-binge drinkers and the high-binge drinkers. Those who conducted this experiment then used the information-sampling task to measure the individual’s impulsivity, the alcohol’s expectancy questionnaire to measure the individual’s thoughts on the outcome and then the unplanned sexual behavior questionnaire, which asks about the occurrences of their unplanned sexual activity.

            The outcome of this study was the impairment of those who are considered high-binge drinkers on the information-sampling task. High-binge drinkers also scored high on what they expected as an outcome of drinking alcohol. In this study the Alcohol expectancy was sociability, greater risk takers, aggressive, negative self-image and liquid courage. Those who consumed excessive amounts of alcohol (high-binge drinkers) expressed considerably more unplanned sexual encounters compared to those who were considered to be low-binge drinkers. All of these factors going to show that both impulse control and proper decision-making skills are inhibited under unreasonable amounts of alcohol (high-binge drinking). There is association between the individuals who consume extreme amounts of alcohol and the negative outcomes that were measured in this study. 

            One limitation in particular is that no direction can be taken from this study while it is suggesting that these three different outcomes may come from young people consuming too much alcohol. While there is also research that says if an individual continues to consume this large amount of alcohol it may destroy their neural system in turn losing all control over their impulsivity. 

Abstract

Townshend, J. M., Kambouropoulos, N., Griffin, A., Hunt, F. J., & Milani, R. M. (2014). Binge Drinking, Reflection Impulsivity, and Unplanned Sexual Behavior: Impaired Decision-Making in Young Social Drinkers. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 38, n/a-n/a.