Binge drinkers have a disconnect between assessing their driving abilities and reality

While many people believe that alcohol-impaired (AI) drivers are usually alcoholics, in fact, 80 percent of AI incidents are caused by binge drinkers. A recent study conducted among college students has found that binge drinkers, even when legally intoxicated, nonetheless believe they having adequate driving abilities.

Results will be published in the July issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at OnlineEarly.

“Binge drinkers are individuals who, when they drink, typically drink to get drunk,” explained Cecile A. Marczinski, assistant professor in the department of psychology at Northern Kentucky University and first author of the study. “Binge drinkers are often young individuals, like college students, who are drinking irresponsibly and most of them are not alcohol dependent.”

College students, as a population, are most likely to binge drink, Marczinski added. “Binge drinking is widespread on college campuses, with almost half of students reporting binge drinking,” she said. “They are also particularly prone to AI driving. Thus, we needed to understand why a population that knows better than to engage in impaired driving still does.

Participants in this study were 20 male and 20 female social-drinking college students (24 binge drinkers, 16 non-binge drinkers) between 21 and 29 years of age. All participants attended two sessions: one during which they received a moderate dose of alcohol (0.65 g/kg), and one during which they received a placebo. Following each session/dose, researchers measured the students’ performance during a simulated driving task, and also measured their subjective responses, including ratings of sedation, stimulation and driving abilities.

“After being given an intoxicating dose of alcohol, all of these individuals – both binge and non-binge drinkers – were very poor drivers when tested on a driving simulator,” said Marczinski. “However, when all of the participants are asked to rate their driving ability, the binge drinkers reported that they had a greater ability to drive compared to the non-binge drinkers.”