Is it Beer O'Clock? Time Perspective and Hazardous Alcohol Use in Emerging Adults

Abstract

Hazardous alcohol use is a pattern of consumption that increases the risk of an individual experiencing alcohol-related harm and/ or of inflicting such harms on others (Babor, Higgins-Biddle, Saunders, & Montiero, 2001). It is most prevalent within the emerging adulthood phase of life (spanning 18-29 years of age; Arnett, 2001; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2010), and is often typified as 'binge' drinking, which involves drinking large quantities of alcohol over a short period of time with the intention of becoming intoxicated. Hazardous alcohol use also incorporates alcohol dependence, which is evident when an individual's pattern of drinking is associated with significant impairment or distress in daily life, including adverse impacts on their physical and psychological health, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, and the disruption or dereliction of usual roles and responsibilities, such as at work or home (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). The many individual harms associated with hazardous alcohol use, beyond alcohol dependence, include non-fatal injuries (Taylor et al., 2010), major depression (Fergusson, Boden, & Horwood, 2009), unwanted sex (Flack et al., 2007), incapacitated sexual assault (McCauley et al., 2009), suicidal behaviours (Borges & Loera, 2010), comorbidity with mental health disorders (Kessler et al., 2011), and financial and occupational difficulties (Graham et al., 2011). These harms also include the estimated 2.5 million deaths per annum globally (4% of all deaths) that are attributed to alcohol use (World Health Organisation [WHO], 2011). Hazardous alcohol use is similarly associated with a multitude of interpersonal and societal harms including physical and sexual assault, child abuse, neglect and maltreatment (Laslett et al., 2010), motor vehicle accidents (Taylor & Rehm, 2012), homicide (Rossow, 2001), intimate partner violence (Abramsky et al., 2011), and problems in intimate, familial, and peer relationships (Graham et al., 2011). Inclusively, the morbidity associated with alcohol use, calculated as disability adjusted life years (DALYs), is estimated to account for 4.5% of the global burden of disease (WHO, 2011).