Youngsters who binge drink have a risky personality profile which varies according to their sex

The study of the University of Barcelona can be useful for the design of prevention programs for this risky behavior.
The study of the University of Barcelona can be useful for the design of prevention programs for this risky behavior.
Research
(03/08/2016)

The heavy drinking of alcohol -drinking five or more alcoholic drinks (men), four or more (women), in two hours- is a public health problem, especially among youngsters. A study led by Ana Adan, lecturer at the Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology of the University of Barcelona and member of the Neuroscience Institute, identified the behavior patterns in young university students who tend to have this behavior regarding alcohol, also known in Spanish as botellón.

The study of the University of Barcelona can be useful for the design of prevention programs for this risky behavior.
The study of the University of Barcelona can be useful for the design of prevention programs for this risky behavior.
Research
03/08/2016

The heavy drinking of alcohol -drinking five or more alcoholic drinks (men), four or more (women), in two hours- is a public health problem, especially among youngsters. A study led by Ana Adan, lecturer at the Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology of the University of Barcelona and member of the Neuroscience Institute, identified the behavior patterns in young university students who tend to have this behavior regarding alcohol, also known in Spanish as botellón.

The work, published in the scientific journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence found that this profile is characterized by high Neuroticism-Anxiety and Impulsive Sensation-seeking feelings as well as in other drug addictions. This profile is different between sexes, high Neuroticism-Anxiety occurs in women whereas high Impulsive Sensation-seeking occurs in men.

These results are focused on risk factors of these kinds of activities and they could help designing personalized prevention programs and treatments for this public health problem which affects 35% of men and 20% of women in Spain aged from 20 to 24. The study has the participation of Jose Francisco Navarro, Professor of Psychobiology at the University of Malaga, and Diego Alexander Forero, Head of the laboratory of Neuro-Psychiatry Genetics at the University Antonio Nariño (Bogota, Colombia).

A behavior linked to other risk behaviors

The aim of the study was to evaluate the profile of university student personalities that drink a lot of alcohol. This behavior is linked to a low perception of the risk of alcohol and drug uses, such as tobacco or marihuana, and with the risk of developing psychological disorders when older. Moreover, people who have this kind of behavior tend to have alcohol overdoses, academic problems, risky sexual relations and driving under the effects of drugs.

In order to elaborate the study, 140 university students aged 18-25 were picked and divided into two groups: 70 (30 men) who were heavy alcohol drinkers and 70 (30 men) who were not. When selecting the participants, the ones who had mental disorders were ruled out. Moreover, circadian rhythms were taken into account: physiology, biochemical and behavior variations that appear every 24 hours. “Recent studies proved that the tendency or preference to do any task during the evening is a risk factor related to psychiatric symptomatology, a lower control of impulses in their behavior and less healthy habits. To avoid this bias, the study selected people with intermediate circadian typology, not morning or evening-related”, says Ana Adan.

With this dual filter, the objective was to avoid presence of other factors that could alter the personality results, which was evaluated with the Alternative Five Factor Model (AFF).

The results showed that the group of heavy alcohol drinkers scored significantly higher than the control group on Neuroticism-Anxiety and Impulsive Sensation-seeking. "These data show that an important percentage of people who have these behaviors have risky personality traits, similar to the ones found in people who developed a disorder due to drug uses. Therefore to take care of this problem it would be necessary to use strategies that lower these personality traits”, says Ana Adan.

The heavy use of alcohol usually starts around the age of 13 and it increases during adolescence, with a peak in adult age (18-22), and then it tends to go down. “Therefore, giving up on this activity would be easier for people who donʼt have this personality profile we detected, whereas it will be difficult for those who have an addition disorder and other mental disorders”, says the researcher.

Differences in sex

In the group of heavy drinkers there were differences between sexes, thus women would have a personality which is characterized by a high Neuroticism-Anxiety and men would have it due Impulsive Sensation-seeking. “Heavy alcohol drinking is a multicause phenomenon, but our data shows that women would have a more emotional reinforcement when drinking, whereas in men their reinforcement would be related to lowering impulse-related tension. These results are relevant to the prevention of these behaviors in people who have these risk personality profiles”, said Ana Adan.

Identifying these personality traits is useful for future studies on relations with other biological risk factors (genetic polymorphism, brain activity or neurocognitive) for these risk behaviors. The UB group is already working on the analysis of neurocognitive effects of the heavy alcohol use.