Intentions and motives to experience alcohol-induced blackout among young adults in college.

Abstract

Blackouts are typically considered a negative consequence of alcohol use. Yet some college students report consuming alcohol with the intention of blacking out. This study examined intentions and motives for blackout drinking among young adults in college. College students with a past-year history of blackout (N ϭ 350, 56% female, 73% White) completed an anonymous online survey. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the incidence of blackout intentions, and individuals who did and did not report future blackout intentions were then compared on drinking patterns, depressive symptoms, social norms, and outcome expectancies. Overall, 135 participants (39%) reported consuming alcohol in the past 30 days with the intention of losing memory of the night's events, and 107 (31%) reported blackout intentions in the next 30 days. When asked (via open text box) to indicate their motives for past blackout intentions, the majority of participants provided responses that fit with coping, social, or enhancement drinking motives. A larger proportion of men than women reported blackout intentions. As a group, those reporting future blackout intentions reported heavier, more frequent, and more problematic drinking, as well as more symptoms of depression and more positive (but not negative) outcome expectancies. A substantial subset of college students reporting a blackout in the past year also endorsed intentions to experience a blackout in the next 30 days. Given strong associations between intentions and subsequent behavior, interventions targeting blackout styles of drinking are warranted. The extent to which "blackout" drinking motives differ from traditional drinking motives is unclear.

Recent alcohol-induced blackouts among heavy drinking college students: A qualitative examination of intentions, willingness, and social context.

“…The fact that the students in our sample did not readily endorse intentions to black out, in light of prior work, is particularly interesting. Our findings contrast with a survey study showing that 39% of a college student sample reporting past-year blackouts intended to experience a blackout in the past 30 days and 31% intended to experience a blackout in the next 30 days (Miller et al, 2020). Lack of intentions to black out in this study is also inconsistent with examination of Twitter data wherein many people publicly expressed a desire to black out (Riordan et al, 2019).…”

“…They also found that Tweets expressed various levels of intention to black out prior to a drinking event (e.g., “I’m going to black out tonight” vs. “I might black out tonight”). Similarly, in a sample of 350 undergraduate students (age 18–29) reporting past-year blackouts, 39% indicated that they had intended to experience a blackout in the past 30 days and 31% indicated that they intended to experience a blackout in the next 30 days (Miller et al, 2020). Importantly, a follow-up of these participants 1 month later found that blackout intentions predicted subsequent blackouts (DiBello et al, 2020).…”

“…Recent evidence suggests that social norms are related to intentions to black out and to actual (self-reported) blackouts. For example, in the sample of undergraduates with past year blackouts described above (Miller et al, 2020), on average, participants perceived that ∼44% and 54% of college student drinkers of their same sex experienced a past-month en bloc and/or fragmentary blackout, respectively. Further, they rated perceived approval of en bloc and fragmentary blackouts among the typical college student drinker (without reference to sex/gender) as an average of 2.95 and 3.35 on a 5-point scale, respectively (1 = strongly disapprove to 5 = strongly approve ).…”

Nuanced relations between simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use motives and negative consequences among college students: The role of multiple product use.

“…Specifically, a recent qualitative analysis of Twitter data showed that intentions to blackout were often discussed in the context of drinking for coping reasons (e.g., to manage stress; Riordan et al, 2019). In a mixed-methods study of college students, coping motives also were the most commonly cited reason for intending to blackout in the past 30 days (Miller et al, 2020). However, a recent alcohol-only study did not find a significant within-person relation between coping (drinking) motives and blackout (Merrill et al, 2019), though important methodological differences may explain this disparate relation, including sample characteristics (SAM users vs. primarily alcohol-only users) and the assessment of motives (broad coping motives vs. disaggregated drinking coping motives for depression and anxiety).…”

“…Specifically, a recent qualitative analysis of Twitter data showed that intentions to blackout were often discussed in the context of drinking for coping reasons (e.g., to manage stress; Riordan et al, 2019). In a mixed-methods study of college students, coping motives also were the most commonly cited reason for intending to blackout in the past 30 days (Miller et al, 2020).…”