Binge Drinking
From AODWiki
Contents |
Definitions
United States
The term Binge Drinking has been used in a number of context. Historically, it referred to a multi-day, excessive-drinking period that is sometimes observed among those with alcoholism or who are alcohol dependent. Recently, the term has been applied to a drinking pattern frequent among teenage and young adult drinkers. College students have often been the population of interest when the term binge drinking has been used. The Harvard researcher Henry Wechsler and his colleagues popularized this new context for the term. He equated the term ��binge drinking�� and ��heavy episodic�� drinking. Both concepts then were operationally defined as any report of consuming 5 or more standard drinks (5+) in a single setting or occasion. Wechsler refined this definition by making it sex specific, with the criteria being 4 or more (4+) for women. 1 It is important to note that by using either the 5+ or 5+/4+ operational definition, the term ��binge drinking�� takes on a meaning very different from the �excessive-drinking event� usage. Wechsler and his colleagues have argued that the 5+/4+ measure of binge drinking is �designed to track how many students on college campuses nationwide are drinking at levels high enough to significantly increase the risk of possible problems for themselves and for those around them� (p. 2).2
This approach to the terminology has been criticized as imprecise because the concept ��binge�� implies a heavy or excessive event, not merely an indicator of alcohol-related problems, such as hangovers. Further, because the operational definition of binge drinking advocated by Wechsler and others did not include subject weight, consumption rate, and other factors, it was possible that many who had been classified as a binge drinker had not consumed alcohol in a way that would lead to either intoxication or increased risk. Thus, James Lange and Robert Voas, among others, advocated a definition that focused on resulting blood alcohol concentrations (BACs). 3
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) National Advisory Council approved a definition that included resulting BACs on February 5, 2004.4 Their definition is as follows:
A "binge" is a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 gram percent or above.They continue with examples for consumption patterns that may lead to a BAC of .08. Due to the definitional ambiguity inherent in the term ��binge��, some respected peer-reviewed journals do not permit its use.
United Kingdom
The UK has officially defined "binge drinking" as "eight or more units for men and six or more units for women on at least one day in the week."5 A unit is defined as 7.9g ethanol. This definition was suggested because it was in line with the previous Office of National Statistics definition of "heavy drinking" and because it is assumed that such consumption volume will lead to intoxication. McAlaney and McMahon6 recently argued that there have been inconsistencies with respect to how the definition has been applied. Specifically, they note that the General Household Survey (GHS) of 2002 used a criteria of "heavy drinking" that was >8/>6 units, while the Health Survey for England used >=8 / >=6.
References
- Wechsler, H., Davenport, A., Dowdall, G., Moeykens, B., & Castillo. S. (1994). Health and behavioral consequences of binge drinking in college: A national survey of students at 140 campuses. ��Journal of the American Medical Association, 272,�� 1672-1677.
- Wechsler, H. (2000, October 20). Binge drinking: Should we attack the name or the problem? ��Chronicle of Higher Education: The Chronicle Review�� The Chronical Review.
- Lange, J.E., & Voas, R.B. (2001). Defining binge drinking quantities through resulting blood alcohol concentrations. ��Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 15��, 4, 310-315.
- NIAAA Newsletter Winter 2004, No 3.
- Alcohol Concern Factsheet 20: Binge Drinking, 12/2003.
- McAlaney J, McMahon J. (2006). Establishing rates of binge drinking in the UK: anomalies in the data. Alcohol & Alcoholism. ePub doi.
