Binge drinking status is related to mean alcohol-related consequences among student drinkers enrolled in a public university

The purpose of this research was to examine whether there were mean differences in the number of consequences reported by non-binge, occasional binge and frequent binge alcohol drinkers among students enrolled in a public university in the southern United States. A secondary analysis of the 2010 National College Health Assessment (NCHA) administered in the Fall 2010 semester was conducted. The study was delimited to students (n=474) who reported drinking alcohol in the last 30 days and reported experiencing at least one alcohol-related consequence in the past twelve months. Binge status was determined using responses to a question about consuming five or more drinks at one sitting in the previous two weeks. Responses were recoded and categorized into non-binge, occasional binge, and frequent binge drinking categories. To address consequences, a variable was computed adding responses to nine alcohol-related consequence questions. Analysis of variance results showed a significant difference in the mean number of consequences between non-binge (M = 18.31, SD = 1.84), occasional binge (M = 19.38, SD = 1.74) and frequent binge drinkers (M = 20.40, SD = 1.95), F(2, 462) = 40.371, p = .000. Post hoc analysis showed a significant difference between all three types of drinkers, p < .001. Results indicate that mean consequences increased with an increase in binge drinking frequency. These findings have implications for reaching frequent binge drinkers in alcohol programming.