Beer chugging may be associated with fraternity and bachelor parties, but a surprising segment of the population is edging craft beer sales up. Soccer moms are among those that have developed a taste for craft brews.
Over the years, numerous researchers have concluded that people who consume alcohol have heightened risks for getting injured. However, these researchers commonly focus on emergency room cases and don’t examine the connection between alcohol intake and injuries that don’t require emergency treatment. In a study published in April 2014 in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, researchers from the Alcohol Research Group used information from a periodic project called the National Alcohol Surveys to compare the rates of alcohol-related injuries treated in an emergency room to the rates of such injuries not treated in an emergency room. The researchers also looked at some of the factors that increase the likelihood that a person will experience an alcohol-related injury.
People who consume too much alcohol on a daily or weekly basis seriously increase their chances of developing diagnosable symptoms of alcohol abuse or alcoholism. Public health officials refer to such a pattern of intake as heavy drinking or at-risk drinking. In a study published in March 2014 in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, a research team from Great Britain and China looked at the impact that heavy drinking has on the odds that any given user of IV (intravenous) drugs will engage in risky behaviors that increase his or her potential for exposure to HIV and other serious blood-borne infections.
People who consume alcohol in bars or other social settings often have not eaten a considerable amount of food for a number of hours. In turn, lack of food can contribute significantly to a drinker developing a blood-alcohol level high enough to produce legal intoxication and increase the risks for alcohol-related harm. In a study published in March 2014 in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, researchers from three U.S. institutions compared the varying effects that hard liquor consumption, wine consumption and beer consumption have on the blood-alcohol levels of people who drink on empty stomachs.
Addiction specialists know that people recovering from alcoholism benefit from continued support after completing their primary treatment programs. However, not all people have the means or opportunity to receive appropriate continuing care. In a study published in March 2014 in the American Medical Association journal JAMA Psychiatry, researchers from four U.S. institutions assessed the usefulness of a smartphone application called the Addiction Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (A-CHESS) as a tool for providing the resources necessary to help recovering alcoholics maintain their sobriety after residential treatment.
Conduct problems are disruptive or dysfunctional behaviors that reduce a person’s willingness or ability to follow established norms or a specific code of conduct. Young children and teenagers sometimes develop forms of these behaviors that are serious enough to qualify for an official mental health diagnosis. In a study published in November 2013 in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, a team of British and American researchers looked at the potential impact of conduct problems on the frequency of alcohol consumption during adolescence. These researchers concluded that conduct problems have a strong influence on drinking levels in young teenagers.