Partiers Who Pre-Drink are at Increased Risk for Alcohol Addiction
Many people start off their nights out by drinking alcohol at home before leaving the house, seemingly unaware of how this jeopardizes their health.
That is according to a new study from Addiction Switzerland, which estimated that up to three-quarters of young people at university-age indulge in this type of behaviour on a regular basis.
Usually, it is alcohol addiction that is seen as the biggest threat to people's health, but this research suggests that pre-drinking can not only increase the risk of becoming addicted, it can also make partiers more likely to over-indulge, have unprotected sex or take drugs.
Florian Labhart, a research at the firm, noted that pre-drinking is a pernicious drinking pattern.
"Excessive consumption and adverse consequences are not simply related to the type of people who pre-drink, but rather to the practice of pre-drinking itself," he added.
"Pre-drinking has been found in about one third of all on-premise drinking, which is a very high rate. Considering that pre-drinking leads people to consume nearly twice the normal amount of alcohol on a given night, its prevalence should not be underestimated from a public-health perspective.”
The study, which monitored the drinking habits of more than 250 students over a five-week period, found that they tended to drink more if they started pre-drinking at home than they would have if they had just gone straight to a club (seven instead of four on average).
The reasons that participants cited for downing cheap alcoholic drinks while they were at home before going out included saving money, socialising, getting "in the mood" and "facilitating contacts with potential sexual partners".
One in ten respondents admitted to having unsafe sex after a night in which they had done some pre-drinking before going out.
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