TORONTO – Do couples influence each other’s drinking habits? A new study out of Dalhousie University in Halifax says your romantic partner may have a powerful influence on whether or not you over-indulge and have too much eggnog this holiday season.
“In some respect this is a cautionary piece of research,” said Dr. Simon Sherry, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Dalhousie University, in a press release. “Pick your friends and lovers carefully because they influence you more than you think.”
Researchers observed 208 non-married, heterosexual couples in their early 20’s. The couples had to be dating for at least three months, had to see each other at least five days a week, and one of them had to be either a university or college student.
On average, couples were dating for close to two years.
Over a 28-day period, researchers were able to predict one partner’s drinking based on the other partner’s binge drinking habits. While past studies found similar patterns in older, married couples, researchers say there are some key differences when it comes to young adults.
“Binge drinking in university students occurs in both young men and women,” said lead author Aislin Mushquash in a statement. “Studies with married couple’s show that men have more of an influence on women, but in our study, we found both young women and young men influence their partner’s binge drinking.”
According to the World Health Organization, excessive alcohol consumption has been linked to cirrhosis of the liver, epilepsy, poisonings, road traffic accidents, violence, and several types of cancer, including cancers of the colorectum, breast, larynx and liver.
Dr. Sherry says the study may raise more questions than provide answers.
“Do birds of a feather all flock together? Do heavy drinkers naturally gravitate towards each other? Does each partner have a family history of alcoholism? These are questions we don’t yet know the answers to.”
View the full study in our DocumentCloud below.
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