Alcohol-related blackouts across 55 weeks of college: Effects of European-American ethnicity, female sex, and low level of response to alcohol

Abstract

Background While high blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) are required for alcohol-related blackouts (ARBs), additional characteristics also contribute to the risk, including a person’s ethnicity, sex, and phenotypes relating to heavier drinking. Few prospective studies of ARBs have evaluated how these additional characteristics interact. Method Data regarding 398 European American (EA), Asian and Hispanic students were extracted from a 55-week prospective study of different approaches to decrease heavy drinking among college freshmen. Information on past month ARB frequency was determined at 8 assessments. While controlling for the prior month maximum BAC and active education vs. control group assignment, the patterns and intensities of ARBs over time across ethnic groups were evaluated with ANOVA at each follow-up for the full sample, and then separately by sex and then by low vs. high levels of response to alcohol status (LR). The overall pattern of ARBs over time was evaluated with a 3 ethnic groups by 2 sexes by 2 LR status by 8 time points mixed-design ANOVA. Results Higher rates of ARBs over time were associated with EA ethnicity, female sex and a low LR to alcohol, with the ethnic differences in ARBs most robust in females and drinkers with high LRs. Participation in education programs aimed at heavy drinking was associated with decreases in ARBs. Conclusions The data indicate that in addition to BACs achieved, propensities toward ARBs relate to complex interactions between additional risk factors, including ethnicity, sex, and LR status.

Alcohol-induced blackouts, subjective intoxication, and motivation to decrease drinking: Prospective examination of the transition out of college

“…Our findings are consistent with prior work that subjective responses to alcohol are associated with experiencing blackouts (Schuckit, Smith, Goncalves, et al, 2016; Wetherill & Fromme, 2009). Having controlled for the quantity of drinking, our results suggest there is something unique about the sensitivity to feelings of intoxication that increases the likelihood of experiencing blackouts.…”

“…Despite this, the highest rates of alcohol-related problems occur in this age group, making this an important developmental phase to study. We also used single items to assess blackouts, subjective intoxication, and motivation to change; however, single items have been used previously for blackouts (Schuckit et al, 2015; Schuckit, Smith, Shafir, et al, 2016; Schuckit, Smith, Goncalves, et al, 2016), subjective intoxication (Quinn & Fromme, 2012), and motivation to change (Chung, Pajtek, & Clark, 2013; Morgenstern et al, 2016). Finally, our model only allowed us to examine three years of data because our expanded definition of blackouts was not added until the Year 4 survey.…”

Alcohol-Induced Amnesia and Personalized Drinking Feedback: Blackouts Predict Intervention Response

“…While gender was not significantly associated with endorsement of amnesia (the primary moderator) or alcohol-related consequences (the primary dependent variable), gender differences in rates of alcohol metabolism and, potentially, neurobiological vulnerability to alcohol may lead to differential rates of alcohol-induced amnesia among women and men (Mumenthaler, Taylor, O’Hara, & Yesavage, 1999; Sharret-Field et al, 2013). While some research has failed to find gender differences in rates of alcohol-induced amnesia (Marino & Fromme, 2015; Merrill et al, 2016; Mundt et al, 2012), other research has found gender differences (Schuckit, Smith, Goncalves, & Anthenelli, 2016). Gender was included as a covariate in the models detailed in this manuscript; however, future studies examining gender differences in the association between alcohol-induced amnesia and consequences are encouraged.…”

Performance of the Self‐Report of the Effects of Alcohol Questionnaire Across Sexes and Generations

“…Low LRs can be determined through alcohol challenges where individuals carrying an elevated risk of alcohol problems and appropriate controls are given alcohol and the intensity of responses over time is observed regarding subjective feelings of intoxication as well as alcohol‐related changes in physiological measures (e.g., Ehlers et al., ; King et al., ; Paulus et al., ; Schuckit and Gold, ; Schuckit et al., ). Alcohol challenge–based LR values have been reliably shown to relate to future heavier drinking, alcohol problems, and alcohol use disorders (AUDs) (Schuckit and Smith, ; Schuckit et al., ).…”

“…Examples of significant positive correlations between SRE scores and future heavier alcohol intake and alcohol problems include data from the San Diego Prospective Study (SDPS), the Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA), the U.K.‐based Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), and others (e.g., Chung and Martin, ; Goncalves et al., ,b; Schuckit and Smith, ; Schuckit et al., , ). SRE‐based LR values are higher in men than women (i.e., men have a low LR per drink) (Eng et al., ; Schuckit et al., , , , ) and European Americans (EAs) compared to African Americans (AAs) and Asian individuals (Luczak et al., , ; Park et al., ; Pedersen and McCarthy, ). However, within each sex and ethnic/racial group low LR values (higher SRE scores) correlate with heavier drinking and alcohol problems (e.g., Schuckit et al., , ,b).…”