Does Binge Drinking Cause Later Health Problems? It is well known that adolescent drinking causes plenty of immediate health problems such as sleeplessness, fatigue, headaches, and lower cognitive functioning. But does adolescent binge drinking (having at least five alcoholic drinks on one occasion) have any long-term effects on health? According to a recent study, the answer is yes. Binge drinking during adolescence was found to have a variety of long-term, negative health consequences, and the risks remained even for people who stopped drinking during their teenage years. Researchers at the University of Washington followed 808 people (about equal numbers of males and females) from ages 10 to 24, interviewing them numerous times asking about their drinking and other drug use, exercise habits, and health. They identified four types of teenage drinkers: non binge drinkers (including nondrinkers), who never or rarely engaged in binge drinking; chronic heavy drinkers, who drank throughout adolescence; escalators, who started drinking in mid-adolescence and quickly increased their alcohol use; and late onsetters, who began drinking late in their teenage years. Findings showed that non binge drinkers were in the best health at age 24, based on weight, physical activity, blood pressure, and number of times they got sick. Chronic heavy drinkers were in the worst physical health. For example, compared to non binge drinkers, they were almost four times as likely to be overweight and to have high blood pressure. Also, late onsetters were more likely to get sick than non binge drinkers, but surprisingly escalators were not found to have poorer health than teens who did not binge drink. The researchers adjusted the study’s statistical analyses to account for factors that might explain the findings, such as income level, gender, ethnicity, and level of drinking at age 24. Even so, they still found teenage binge drinking to be associated with later health problems. These results support the role of alcohol in long-term health risk. Although these findings are impressive, the researchers cannot conclude that adolescent binge drinking causes later health problems. Instead, they state that those who binge drink may choose certain lifestyles and engage in certain behaviors that more directly contribute to poorer health. When these factors are better understood, interventions can be more effective in reducing the occurrence of teenage binge drinking. Question: What bias or error may explain why an adult blames his recent headaches and sleeping problems on the binge drinking he did during adolescence?

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