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Parental Provision of Alcohol Associated With Binge Drinking in Female Undergrads
Female college students whose parents provide them with alcohol engage in binge drinking more often than other students, according to a study presented at the recent American Psychiatric Nurses Association Annual Conference in Long Beach, California.
“To date, no studies have directly examined the association between the parental provision of alcohol to college students and their subsequent alcohol use, sexual risk, and other adverse experiences,” wrote researchers Devon Carroll and Somatra Connolly, PhD students at the University of Rhode Island College of Nursing in Kingston, Rhode Island. “The purpose of this study was to examine the association between parental provision of alcohol and alcohol use and binge drinking in female college students. Binge drinking was also explored as a predictor for other risk behaviors and negative health outcomes.”
The study was based on survey responses from nearly 500 college-age women in their first or second years at 2 universities.
About 15% of participants reported that their parents provided them with alcohol during their current year of college. Those students, according to the data, tended to drink twice as often per month compared with female students whose parents did not provide alcohol. They tended to binge drink twice as often, too.
Binge drinking was associated with forced sexual contact, physical intimate partner violence, and negative mental health outcomes, according to the study. Consequently, researchers advised intervention for college-bound students and their parents.
“Larger studies investigating parental provision of alcohol, alcohol use, sexual behaviors, and violence experiences in female undergraduate students are needed,” the researchers wrote. “Further studies should examine the role of parent provision of alcohol in high school and binge drinking and alcohol misuse in female college students.”
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