High‐intensity drinking and hours spent drinking

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundHigh‐intensity drinking (HID) is associated with negative consequences, but it remains unclear whether a time qualifier (i.e., time spent drinking) is needed to identify individuals at highest risk. To improve the measurement and conceptualization of HID, we examined the utility of adding a time qualifier to define what constitutes an occasion of HID using repeated daily surveys in a sample of young adults.MethodsParticipants were selected from a nationally representative sample of 12th‐grade students in the United States who participated in the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study in Spring 2018. In 2019 and 2020, young adults (at modal ages 19–20) responded to annual and daily (14 consecutive days per year) online surveys about their alcohol use.ResultsWhen we compared moderate drinking days (less than 4/5 drinks for women/men), binge drinking days (4–7/5–9 drinks), and HID days (8+/10+ drinks), HID days had the longest duration of drinking (5.2 h), highest peak estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC, 0.30%), and greatest drinking pace (2.58 drinks/h). HID was associated with a greater number of negative consequences than either moderate or binge drinking; adjusting for time spent drinking did not impact this interpretation. HID was reported on 10.9% of days; when defined as 8/10+ drinks in 4 h or 2 h, HID was reported on 4.8% and 1.0% of days, respectively. Nearly all differences in eBAC and negative consequences persisted across drinking intensity despite the introduction of time constraints.ConclusionsHID days were characterized by both a longer time spent drinking and a more rapid pace of drinking. Adding a time qualifier to the definition of HID would restrict variability by only describing the minority of days and does not improve the distinctions among levels of risk.