Romantic relationships, college student alcohol use, and negative consequences of drinking

Romantic relationships, college student alcohol use, and negative consequences of drinking. Daphne E. Pedersen, Kimberly P. Pithey. The Social Science Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2018.02.017

Highlights
•    Men and women undergraduates in committed dating relationships are less likely to report alcohol use leading to drunkenness, or drinking with the intention of getting drunk.
•    Undergraduate women in committed relationships experience fewer negative alcohol-related consequences than single women.
•    Undergraduate men in committed relationships experience less alcohol-related regret than single men.
•    For undergraduate men and women, being in a committed dating relationship was not significantly associated with drinking frequency.

Abstract: This study examined whether being in a romantic relationship is associated with undergraduates’ alcohol use and negative consequences of drinking. Alcohol use was operationalized to include amount and frequency of drinking, binge drinking, and drunkenness. Negative consequences included: having a hangover, missing a class, getting behind in school work, doing something that was later regretted, forgetting where the student was or what they did, having unplanned sex, and getting hurt or injured. Data came from an online survey distributed to Midwestern undergraduate students (N = 572), with analyses conducted separately for men and women. Results indicated that being in a committed relationship generally served as a protective factor against drunkenness, but did not reduce frequency of drinking or binge drinking. Whereas romantically committed men were only less likely to report doing something that was later regretted, women in romantic relationships were less likely to experience all negative consequences of drinking considered here.

Keywords: Alcohol consequences; Alcohol use; Binge drinking; College dating; College drinking; Drinking consequences; Romantic relationships