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UrduParental supply of alcohol is a relatively common practice in Australia, believed by some parents to be an effective means of teaching their children to drink responsibly. New research shows that family and peer factors each play a role in the development of excessive and risky drinking in early adulthood and associated harms. These results and others will be shared at the 46th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Bellevue, Washington.
Tag: peer influence
Among Young People, Being Around Peers May Elicit Greater Drinking Cravings than the Presence of Alcohol
The presence of peers is a key prompt for alcohol cravings among young people, according to a new study in Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research. When certain settings, people, or items—a bar, a friend, a glass—are paired with alcohol, they can become conditioned cues, eliciting drinking cravings. These learned reactions are associated with alcohol use disorder (AUD), treatment outcomes, and relapse. Adolescents and emerging adults are particularly susceptible to peer influence. In real-world settings, studies have found that the presence of peers predicts young people’s intensifying drinking cravings at the moment. In laboratory studies, however, peer influence is largely absent, potentially limiting the usefulness of their findings. Better understanding peers as alcohol cues could inform more effective AUD prevention and treatment programs. For the current study, researchers from Brown University, RI, evaluated alcohol cravings among youth in the human laboratory, using drinking-
Copy-cat? Youth with Few Friends Conform to Stay in a Friend’s ‘Good Graces’
What gives one friend influence over another? Considerable attention has focused on who influences whom; much less is known about why one partner is prone to be influenced by the other. A study tested the hypothesis that within a friend dyad, having fewer friends than one’s partner increases susceptibility to influence, because it reduces dissimilarity and promotes compatibility. Results showed that partners with fewer friends were influenced by children with more friends. In each case, the partner with fewer friends became more similar to the partner with more friends. Academic engagement was the only domain where partners with fewer friends also influenced partners with more friends.
College Students’ Alcohol Use Fell, Not Rose, During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic
College students’ alcohol consumption fell during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, notwithstanding concerns that the pandemic may drive up the risk of problematic drinking, according to new studies in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. The findings point to changing living conditions as a key influence, and a shift from heavy drinking with peers to lighter drinking with families. College students’ drinking is a longstanding public health concern in the US and international research on the effects of the pandemic has had mixed findings. Some studies have highlighted the drinking risks associated with pandemic stressors, disruptions, and deprivations, and increased depression, anxiety, and loneliness among college students. On the other hand, the closure of liquor stores and bars, the cancellation of events, and financial limitations may be protective against problematic drinking. Understanding how students’ alcohol use changed during the pandemic, and the reasons behind th