Alcohol Use and Problems in Daily and Non-Daily Coffee Drinking College Females.

BACKGROUND: For more than a decade, a large proportion of research on caffeine use in college students has focused on energy drinks (ED), demonstrating an association between ED consumption and heavy/problem alcohol use. The present study examined the relationship between daily coffee consumption and varied measures of alcohol use and problems in a sample of college women. METHODS: Participants were undergraduate females (N=360) attending an urban university in 2001-02 and prior to the rise in ED popularity on college campuses. Analyses compared women who reported drinking coffee daily (DC; 16.9%), to women who did not (NDC; 83.1%) on standardized measures of alcohol use and problems. RESULTS: For both past month and year of drinking, DC women generally reported consuming more alcohol and were 2.1-2.6 times more likely to screen at risk for alcohol problems than their NDC counterparts. DC women were also more likely than NDC women to report problems related to drinking (e.g., experiencing blackouts, inability to stop drinking after they had started). CONCLUSIONS: Findings support potential benefits of health education and screening that goes beyond EDs, focusing on varied forms of caffeine consumption.

Premenstrual symptomatology and alcohol consumption in college women.

OBJECTIVE: Because research has indicated women may be at increased risk for alcohol-related health problems, identifying risk factors for alcohol use among college women has become increasingly important. Previous studies report a relationship between premenstrual symptoms (PMS) and alcohol consumption among women seeking treatment for symptoms; however, results have been inconsistent among nonclinical samples. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between premenstrual symptomatology and alcohol consumption in a sample of college women. METHOD: Women (N = 193) from a large urban university consented to complete an assessment battery of health behavior questionnaires which included a retrospective assessment of PMS severity and typical weekend and weekday alcohol consumption during the past year. RESULTS: Results revealed that PMS severity significantly predicted annual weekday alcohol consumption but did not predict annual weekend alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests the relationship between PMS and alcohol consumption exists in nonclinical samples of college women who are relatively early in their drinking careers, before the development of severe alcohol-related problems. Thus, premenstrual symptomatology may be an important risk factor for alcohol consumption among college women. Education on the relationship between PMS and risk for alcohol misuse may provide beneficial information for both alcohol prevention and intervention efforts on college campuses and may be helpful in identifying women at risk for heavy alcohol consumption and alcohol problems.

Assessing maternal perceptions of harmful effects of drug use during pregnancy.

Research has shown that perceived risk is an important predictor of health behavior change. In turn, drug use risk education is a vital component of many health campaigns. In pregnant women, perceived risk studies have focused primarily on alcohol and tobacco use. Little is known about perceived risks associated with prenatal exposure to illicit drugs. The present study compared drug use attitude (DUA) in both treatment-seeking and non-treatment-seeking drug-using pregnant women as well as a comparison group of non-drug-using pregnant women. The results suggest that non-treatment-seekers are less knowledgeable about specific potential risks of perinatal substance use. In addition, compared to treatment seekers and non-users, non-treatment-seekers were more likely to endorse cutting down on drug use rather than quitting as a means of reducing harm to the developing child. Results of the present study suggest drug-using women may benefit from additional education about harmful effects of drug use.

Smoking cessation during alcohol treatment: a randomized trial of combination nicotine patch plus nicotine gum.

AIMS: The primary aim was to compare the efficacy of smoking cessation treatment using a combination of active nicotine patch plus active nicotine gum versus therapy consisting of active nicotine patch plus placebo gum in a sample of alcohol-dependent tobacco smokers in an early phase of out-patient alcohol treatment. A secondary aim was to determine whether or not there were any carry-over effects of combination nicotine replacement on drinking outcomes. DESIGN: Small-scale randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial with 1-year smoking and drinking outcome assessment. SETTING: Two out-patient substance abuse clinics provided a treatment platform of behavioral alcohol and smoking treatment delivered in 3 months of weekly sessions followed by three monthly booster sessions. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 96 men and women with a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence and smoking 15 or more cigarettes per day. INTERVENTION: All participants received open-label transdermal nicotine patches and were randomized to receive either 2 mg nicotine gum or placebo gum under double-blind conditions. FINDINGS: Analysis of 1-year follow-up data revealed that patients receiving nicotine patch plus active gum had better smoking outcomes than those receiving patch plus placebo gum on measures of time to smoking relapse and prolonged abstinence at 12 months. Alcohol outcomes were not significantly different across medication conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study were consistent with results of larger trials of smokers without alcohol problems, showing that combination therapy (nicotine patch plus gum) is more effective than monotherapy (nicotine patch) for smoking cessation.