EPISODIC HEAVY DRINKING AMONG COLLEGE-STUDENTS - METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES AND LONGITUDINAL PERSPECTIVES

Longitudinal data from 81 undergraduates (47 women and 34 men) were us ed for concurrent and predictive validation of binge drinking measures . Results suggest relative strengths,and weaknesses of different binge definitions. The conventional binge measure of greater than or equal to 5 drinks in a row (greater than or equal to 4 drinks in a row for w omen) yielded higher prevalence estimates and higher sensitivity but l ess specificity than other quantity-frequency measures using alcohol-r elated problems as the criterion. Alternative binge measures resulted in lower prevalence rates and sensitivity but higher specificity for a lcohol-related problems. Only a subset of students exhibited heavy dri nking patterns consistently over time. Such consistent heavy drinking was significantly more strongly associated with increased risk of adve rse alcohol-related consequences.