Problematic Drinking Among Postgraduate Students: Binge Drinking, Prepartying, and Mixing Alcohol With Energy Drinks

ABSTRACT

Background: Although problematic alcohol use has been studied extensively in undergraduate students, little is known about problematic drinking among postgraduate students. Objectives: This study examined binge drinking, prepartying, and mixing alcohol with energy drinks to determine: (1) the extent to which postgraduate students engage in these drinking behaviors, (2) how postgraduate students differ from undergraduate students in these behaviors, and (3) the demographic risk factors for these behaviors in postgraduate (and undergraduate) students. Methods: This study utilized data from n = 695 students (n = 298 postgraduate; n = 397 undergraduate) who participated in the Healthy Minds Study at a large, public university in the Midwestern US. Results: Past-two-week binge drinking, past-year and past-30-day prepartying, and past-30-day mixing alcohol with energy drinks were reported by 26.2%, 28.6%, 14.9%, and 8.1% of postgraduate students, respectively. Multivariate analyses indicated that postgraduate status was a significant negative predictor of binge drinking and prepartying, and that status interacted with age in predicting prepartying such that the effect of age on prepartying was negative for postgraduate students and nonsignificant for undergraduates. Age was a significant negative predictor of mixing alcohol with energy drinks for all students. Conclusions/Importance: This study makes a unique contribution to the literature by providing information on problematic drinking in postgraduate students. Although there was evidence of “maturing out,” a substantial number of postgraduate students were found to engage in binge drinking and prepartying, and a not insubstantial number of them were found to mix alcohol with energy drinks.

KEYWORDS:

• Undergraduate students
• postgraduate students
• binge drinking
• prepartying
• alcohol
• energy drinks

Notes

¹ In 2010, the FDA sent a warning letter to four companies that produced premixed alcohol energy drinks, resulting in those companies voluntarily reformulating the beverage to exclude the “energy” components. Included among these companies were the manufacturers of Four Loko and Jooce, the two beverages which were listed as examples in the survey item about mixing alcohol with energy drinks. Although these two beverages remained on the market for some time as the shift was made, it is likely that the versions containing the “energy” component were gone in most markets by the time this survey was fielded in 2012. Thus, these two beverage names were included erroneously in the Healthy Minds survey instrument. This error probably reduced the validity of the survey item which assessed mixing energy drinks with alcohol, although the extent to which this was the case is unknown. This issue should be kept in mind when interpreting the present findings regarding mixing energy drinks with alcohol.

² There were 50 professional students in the present study, but only 14 of these were medical students.

³ The 90th percentile for the undergraduate students (i.e., 23 years of age) was equal to the 10^th percentile for the postgraduate students.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Patricia C. Rutledge

Patricia C. Rutledge, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Allegheny College, a liberal-arts college located in northwestern Pennsylvania, where she also contributes to the Global Health Program. Her research focuses on college student health behaviors, with an emphasis on alcohol consumption.

Jessica R. B. M. Bestrashniy

Jessica R. B. M. Bestrashniy, PhD, is a professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota in the Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science Department and a mentor in the college's Center for Interdisciplinary Research. Her primary interests are in developing epidemiological methods, and her research has examined the genetics of childhood cancer, public health policy, adolescent and young adult substance use, health economics, and latent variables modeling of psychological constructs.

Toben F. Nelson

Toben F. Nelson, ScD, is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and a primary faculty member with the Alcohol Epidemiology Program. His research examines health policy, organizational change, social determinants of health, program evaluation, prevention of alcohol attributable harm, motor vehicle safety, and obesity prevention.