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Aims: This study used event-level data to identify the threshold (i.e. number of standard alcoholic drinks) at which specific negative and positive alcohol-related consequences are likely to occur., Methods: Ninety-six college students aged 18-20 reporting weekly heavy episodic drinking (HED) or at least one negative alcohol-related consequence in the past 2 weeks completed ecological momentary assessment over 28 days. Participants reported number of standard drinks consumed and negative (e.g. nausea) and positive (e.g. new friend) alcohol-related consequences on 492 drinking nights. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve measured the ability of an increasing number of drinks consumed to discriminate between nights with versus without a given consequence. The Youden Index method was used to identify the optimal threshold of drinks for each consequence. Thresholds were examined for each consequence by participants' biological sex and heavy drinking status., Results: Across subgroups, most consequences occurred on nights where participants reported higher consumption levels relative to nights where consequences did not occur. Thresholds for negative consequences ranged between four and nine drinks and thresholds for positive consequences were between three and six drinks., Conclusions: Many negative consequences are likely to occur following the traditional HED threshold of 4+/5+ drinks (females/males), with more severe consequences occurring at slightly higher thresholds. Positive consequences are likely to occur at lower thresholds. There may be an optimal number of drinks that maximize positive while minimizing negative consequences for heavy drinking college students., (© The Author(s) 2022. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Pre-drinking motives (PDM) are linked with different characteristics of pre-drinking occasions (e.g., fast-paced drinking, socializing, moving across locations) that are potentially related to adverse night-level consequences. This study examines the direct associations of three PDM dimensions (fun/intoxication, facilitation, and conviviality) with the occurrence of five consequences (hangover, impaired driving, blackout, risky sex, fight/injury) over and above amounts of alcohol consumed that night., Methods: A sample of 138 young adult nightlife goers (55.1 % men, M age  = 19.0 SD = 2.4) in Switzerland reported PDM at baseline, and subsequently reported night-level alcohol use and consequences the next morning on 12.1 weekend nights on average (N = 1,663 participant-nights). Correlational analyses and multilevel logistic regression models assessed associations between PDM and night-level consequences., Results: After adjusting for amounts consumed, age, sex and monthly pre-drinking frequency, conviviality PDM were associated with higher odds of risky sex (OR = 2.68) and lower odds of blackout (OR = 0.57) while fun/intoxication PDM were associated with lower odds of risky sex (OR = 0.35). Interaction analyses per gender showed that fun/intoxication PDM were associated with lower odds of impaired driving among women (OR = 0.25). Results remained the same when adjusting for general drinking motives, which were not associated with night-level consequences., Conclusion: PDM might better capture risk factors for experiencing night-level consequences than general drinking motives. Preventive intervention should make young people aware that pre-drinking is not only associated with higher amounts of alcohol consumed, but also with increased risks of specific night-level consequences, including blackouts and risky sexual behaviors, depending on the level of endorsement of each PDM., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Alcohol expectancies are well-established determinants of alcohol consumption. Traditionally, expectancies were assessed using self-report questionnaires. However, researchers have increasingly begun to explore the use of pictographic assessments, for example, the revised Alcohol Expectancy Task [rAET]. The current research aimed to examine the factor structure of the task in relation to the hypothesised expectancy dimensions, participants' endorsement of these dimensions, and whether rAET scores are associated with drinking patterns. The rAET presents participants with several illustrated scenarios in which people are displaying emotions, following the Circumplex Model of Affect. For each scenario, participants select which type of drink the person presented in the illustration was most likely to have drunk. The rAET was administered online to a convenience sample ( n = 1,192, female: 50.7%, M age = 36.8, SD = 13.7). The confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated adequate fit of the hypothesised four-factor model. Mean comparisons demonstrated that positive expectancies were more pronounced than negative expectancies, and a distinction between arousal and sedation expectancies was found. Results of a structural equation model found that positive sedation and positive arousal were related to high drinking frequency. There were no links between usual quantity of alcohol use or binge drinking. It appears that the rAET can be successfully used to assess alcohol expectancies in terms of the emotions that are expected to occur from alcohol consumption. Future research is needed to establish the tool's assessment properties in different settings, and its utility in predicting alcohol consumption in different age groups, particularly children and young adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Introduction: Pre-drinking increases alcohol use on drinking nights, which is associated with various adverse alcohol-related consequences but what motivates people to do so, i.e. the role of pre-drinking motives (PDM) in this link, is unclear. The current study examined a) the association of three PDM factors (fun/intoxication, facilitation, and conviviality) with average night-level alcohol use, b) whether PDM are associated with adverse alcohol-related consequences (hangover, drunk driving, blackout, risky sex, injury, and fights) and c) whether PDM mediates the link between night-level alcohol use and negative consequences., Methods: A sample of 204 young adult nightlife goers (48.8% males, M age  = 19 SD = 2.4) from Switzerland reported PDM at baseline, and subsequently participated in a 2-month event-level study. Regressions models assessed direct and mediated associations., Results: Fun/intoxication PDM predicted alcohol use in subsequent drinking nights (11.3 nights per participant on average), but not the two other PDM. No direct link between PDM and consequences was found. However, fun/intoxication PDM lead indirectly to more adverse consequences through higher alcohol use., Conclusion: This study shows that predominantly 'fun/intoxication' predrinkers are at increased risk for alcohol consumption and consequences, but not those who predrink for conviviality or facilitation motives. The outcomes thus suggest the importance of specific PDM in preventing alcohol use for instance by tailoring interventions based on individuals' PDM in order to curb drinking and its associated consequences among young adults on weekend nights out., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background and Aims: The threshold of 4+/5+ drinks per occasion has been used for decades in alcohol research to distinguish between non-risky versus risky episodic drinking. However, no study has assessed the validity of this threshold using event-level data. This study aimed to determine the optimal thresholds for the detection of five acute alcohol-related consequences (hangover, blackout, risky sex, fights and injury) using data from two event-level studies., Design: An event-level study to assess the ability to use the number of drinks consumed to discriminate between nights with and without consequences using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve. Optimal thresholds were determined using the Youden Index based on sensitivity and specificity. Separate thresholds were estimated for gender and age groups (16-17 versus 18-25)., Setting: Lausanne and Zurich, Switzerland., Participants: Three hundred and sixty-nine participants aged 16-25 years., Measurements: On 3554 weekend nights, participants reported total number of alcoholic drinks consumed the previous night and acute consequences (hangover, blackout, risky sex, fights and injury) FINDINGS: Hangover was the most frequently reported consequence and injury the least for both genders. Throughout age groups and studies, optimal thresholds for any consequence, and for hangover only, were equal to 4+/5+ (40+/50+ g alcohol) while those for blackouts, risky sex, fights and injuries were up to three drinks higher. Adolescents tended to experience consequences more often and at slightly lower drinking levels than did adults. For all consequences but injuries, the optimal thresholds were one to two drinks lower for women than for men., Conclusions: Event-level data collection techniques appear particularly suitable to estimate thresholds at which acute alcohol-related consequences occur. Binge drinking thresholds of 4+/5+ (women/men) drinks, equivalent to 40+/50+ g pure alcohol, predict the occurrence of consequences accurately in general but are too low to predict severe acute alcohol-related consequences., (© 2018 Society for the Study of Addiction.)

Objective: Young people often drink more alcohol than intended over the course of a night. This study investigates individual and night-specific factors predicting young people's acknowledgment of having drunk more than intended., Method: Using the Youth@Night smartphone application, 176 people aged 16-25 documented 757 Friday and Saturday nights. Participants recorded their drinking intentions at the beginning of the night, the composition of the social and physical environment over the course of the night, and, the next morning, the previous night's total consumption and whether they had drunk more than intended or experienced other alcohol-related consequences. Bivariate statistics and multilevel logistic regressions were used based on the 361 nights during which 139 participants (53.2% men, mean age = 19.3) exceeded their drinking intentions., Results: Participants acknowledged higher consumption than intended on 36.7% of nights. At the night level, higher drinking intentions than usual (odds ratio [OR] = 1.36, 95% CI [1.13, 1.65]), attending a larger number of locations than usual (OR = 1.84, 95% CI [1.11, 3.04]), having a hangover the next morning (OR = 3.23, 95% CI [1.50, 6.95]), or spending more money than planned (OR = 3.12, 95% CI [1.56, 6.26]) were associated with acknowledgment of drinking more than intended. No individual characteristics were associated with acknowledgment of exceeding drinking intentions., Conclusions: Young people not only tend to drink more than intended on weekend nights but also often fail to acknowledge this the next morning. Event based prevention measures aimed at narrowing the gap between drinking intentions and quantities of alcohol consumed are recommended.

Introduction and Aims: The practice and adverse consequences of pre-drinking have been documented within a dozen countries, but little remains known about the differences between countries or the country-specific determinants of pre-drinking. This study aims to estimate the percentage of pre-drinkers in different countries and the impact of country-level indicators such as the price of alcohol and the prevalence of drinkers and of heavy drinkers., Design and Methods: Using data from the Global Drug Survey, the percentage of pre-drinkers was estimated for 25 countries from 65 126 respondents. Bivariate and multivariate multilevel models were used to model the impact of the on-premise/off-premise drinks price ratio, the prevalence of current drinkers and of heavy drinkers on the percentage of pre-drinkers., Results: The estimated percentage of pre-drinkers per country ranged from 17.7% (Greece) to 85.4% (Ireland). Across all countries, the higher the prevalence of current drinkers, the higher the percentage of pre-drinkers. In addition, an interaction between the prevalence of heavy drinkers and the price ratio was found. In countries with a low price ratio, the higher the prevalence of heavy drinkers, the higher the percentage of pre-drinkers. The opposite effect was observed in countries with high price ratios., Discussion and Conclusions: Pre-drinking appears to be a worldwide phenomenon. The significant effects of all three indicators demonstrate the role of country-level determinants underpinning the prevalence of pre-drinking across countries. Policy makers could use the reported findings for initiating campaigns to reduce pre-drinking behaviour. [Labhart F, Ferris J, Winstock A, Kuntsche E. The country-level effects of drinking, heavy drinking and drink prices on pre-drinking: An international comparison of 25 countries., (© 2017 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

Introduction and Aims: Young adults' weekend alcohol consumption is characterised by heavy episodic drinking (HED) with low alcohol use in between. This study investigates whether consuming a lower or higher number of drinks than usual on a given evening predicts consumption the following evening., Design and Methods: In French-speaking Switzerland, 115 young adults (57% female, mean age = 23.2) answered questionnaires on their cellphones six times every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening over five consecutive weeks. Multilevel models with group-mean centering were used to analyse 462 evening pairs., Results: Although the sample average number of drinks consumed tended to increase from Thursday [Mmen (SD) = 3.6 (5.0); Mwomen (SD) = 2.9(4.2)] to Saturday [Mmen (SD) = 7.4( 7.1); Mwomen (SD) = 5.2(5.6)], substantial day-to-day variations were observed within individuals. Variations from the usual consumption (i.e. higher or lower number of drinks than usual) on the first day had a significant inverse impact on amounts consumed the following day (unstandardised regression coefficient (B) = -0.27, P < 0.01). This effect was more marked for evening pairs including HED (B = -0.44, P < 0.001). Men and heavy drinkers were less subject to day-to-day variations than women and usually moderate drinkers., Discussion and Conclusions: The inverse relationship might result from adverse consequences experienced after HED or an intentional reduction in alcohol consumption in anticipation of a heavy drinking session the next day. Event-specific prevention is needed for women and usually light or moderate drinkers as their more distinct consumption peaks put them at greater risk, particularly of accidents and injuries., (© 2014 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

Objectives: To show the effectiveness of a brief group alcohol intervention. Aims of the intervention were to reduce the frequency of heavy drinking occasions, maximum number of drinks on an occasion and overall weekly consumption., Methods: A cluster quasi-randomized control trial (intervention n = 338; control n = 330) among 16- to 18-year-old secondary school students in the Swiss Canton of Zürich. Groups homogeneous for heavy drinking occasions (5+/4+ drinks for men/women) consisted of those having medium risk (3-4) or high risk (5+) occasions in the past 30 days. Groups of 8-10 individuals received two 45-min sessions based on motivational interviewing techniques., Results: Borderline significant beneficial effects (p < 0.10) on heavy drinking occasions and alcohol volume were found 6 months later for the medium-risk group only, but not for the high-risk group. None of the effects remained significant after Bonferroni corrections., Conclusions: Group intervention was ineffective for all at-risk users. The heaviest drinkers may need more intensive treatment. Alternative explanations were iatrogenic effects among the heaviest drinkers, assessment reactivity, or reduction of social desirability bias at follow-up through peer feedback.

In alcohol epidemiology surveys, there is a tradition of measuring alcohol-related consequences using respondents' attribution of alcohol as the cause. The authors aimed to compare the prevalence and frequency of self-attributed consequences to consequences without self-attribution using alcohol-attributable fractions (AAF). In 2007, a total of 7,174 Swiss school students aged 13-16 years reported the numbers of 6 alcohol-related adverse consequences (e.g., fights, injuries) they had incurred in the past 12 months. Consequences were measured with and without attribution of alcohol as the cause. The alcohol-use measures were frequency and volume of drinking in the past 12 months and number of risky single-occasion (> or =5 drinks) drinking episodes in the past 30 days. Attributable fractions were derived from logistic (> or =1 incident) and Poisson (number of incidents) regression analyses. Although relative risk estimates were higher when alcohol-attributed consequences were compared with nonattributed consequences, the use of AAFs resulted in more alcohol-related consequences (10,422 self-attributed consequences vs. 24,520 nonattributed consequences determined by means of AAFs). The likelihood of underreporting was higher among drinkers with intermediate frequencies than among either rare drinkers or frequent drinkers. Therefore, the extent of alcohol-related adverse consequences among adolescents may be underestimated when using self-attributed consequences, because of differential attribution processes, especially among infrequent drinkers.

Elaborating on instruments for U.S. university students, we developed and validated the predrinking (drinking before going out) motives questionnaire (PMQ) for general populations of young adults. In popular nightlife areas in Switzerland, 316 predrinkers aged 16-25 (48% women) were recruited. Focus group interviews and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded a three-factor measure, with a structure that was invariant across linguistic regions, gender, age, and student status. 'Fun/intoxication' motives were associated with predrinking but 'conviviality' and 'facilitation' motives were not. Men scored higher on 'facilitation' than women and those from the French-speaking region scored higher on 'conviviality' than German-speaking participants. Although yet to be replicated in other countries, the PMQ appears to be an appropriate general measure of predrinking motives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]