[Risk factors and psychological vulnerabilities to binge-drinking in youth]. / Facteurs psychologiques et de personnalité dans le binge-drinking chez les jeunes.

ABSTRACT

For years, a large number of studies have demonstrated the harmful effects of alcohol consumption on the brain and therefore on behavior and cognition. These studies first aimed at identifying the consequences of alcohol abuse consumption, more specifically in pathologies such as alcohol-dependence or Korsakoff syndrome. Researchers then also started to focus on vulnerabilities to alcohol consumption, especially in hyper fast alcohol consumption called binge-drinking (BD). Indeed BD, which is a particularly dangerous form of alcohol consumption, is usually observed in adolescents and young adults. Typically, young people tend to adopt this way of drinking in order to reach a massive and expeditious intoxication. The aim of this paper is to present the bibliographic data available on the main risk factors to BD and to describe the main measurement tools for investigating these factors in clinical researches. The interaction between psychological dysfunctions and BD is not well understood. For a better understanding of the links between binge-drinking and psychological and personality factors in terms of vulnerability or risk, studies have investigated on affective factors (depression and anxiety), personality characteristics (impulsivity and sensation seeking) and drinking motives (coping, improvement, compliance and wellness). Although different factors are often associated with BD in adolescents and young adults, it is still not clear whether these factors are the consequences of alcohol consumption or a reflection of pre-morbid abnormalities predisposing individuals to excessive alcohol consumption. Furthermore, results are not unequivocal and various distinct personality profiles seem to emerge. Thus, these questions are still not fully resolved and further studies are needed to understand the complex relationships between BD and the various psychological or personality factors. The need for investigating these factors in clinical studies is nevertheless important with regard to therapeutic interventions. Indeed, the identification of specific profiles involved in a binge-drinking type of consumption could allow an adaptation of the contents of therapeutic programs by targeting a specific mechanism. For example, recent findings have revealed that when factors such as impulsivity are considered, therapeutic intervention is more effective.