Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, PO Box 15000, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H4R2.
Addict Behav. 2013 May;38(5):2180-6. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2012.11.008. Epub 2012 Nov 24.
Heavy episodic drinking is increasingly common among undergraduate women. Cross-sectional research suggests that depressive symptoms and heavy episodic drinking are related. Nonetheless, surprisingly little is known about whether depressive symptoms are an antecedent of heavy episodic drinking, a consequence of heavy episodic drinking, or both. Such knowledge is essential to the accurate conceptualization of heavy episodic drinking, depressive symptoms, and their interrelations. In the present short-term longitudinal study, depressive symptoms and heavy episodic drinking were proposed to reciprocally influence each other over time, with depressive symptoms predicting changes in heavy episodic drinking over 1 week and vice versa. This reciprocal relations model was tested in 200 undergraduate women using a 4-wave, 4-week longitudinal design. Structural equation modeling was used to conduct cross-lagged analyses testing reciprocal relations between depressive symptoms and heavy episodic drinking. Consistent with hypotheses, both depressive symptoms and heavy episodic drinking were temporally stable, and depressive symptoms predicted changes in heavy episodic drinking over 1 week. Contrary to hypotheses, heavy episodic drinking did not predict changes in depressive symptoms over 1 week. Results are consistent with a vulnerability model suggesting depressive symptoms leave undergraduate women vulnerable to heavy episodic drinking. For undergraduate women who are struggling with feelings of sadness, worthlessness, and hopelessness, heavy episodic drinking may provide a temporary yet maladaptive means of avoiding or alleviating depressive symptoms.
重度间歇性饮酒在女大学生中越来越普遍。横断面研究表明，抑郁症状与重度间歇性饮酒有关。尽管如此，人们对抑郁症状是重度间歇性饮酒的前兆、后果，还是两者兼而有之，知之甚少。这种知识对于准确理解重度间歇性饮酒、抑郁症状及其相互关系至关重要。在本项短期纵向研究中，提出抑郁症状和重度间歇性饮酒随时间相互影响，抑郁症状预测 1 周内重度间歇性饮酒的变化，反之亦然。使用 4 波 4 周的纵向设计，在 200 名女大学生中测试了这种互惠关系模型。结构方程模型用于进行交叉滞后分析，以测试抑郁症状和重度间歇性饮酒之间的互惠关系。与假设一致，抑郁症状和重度间歇性饮酒都是随时间稳定的，抑郁症状预测了 1 周内重度间歇性饮酒的变化。与假设相反，重度间歇性饮酒并不能预测 1 周内抑郁症状的变化。研究结果与易感性模型一致，该模型表明抑郁症状使女大学生易患重度间歇性饮酒。对于那些感到悲伤、无价值和绝望的女大学生来说，重度间歇性饮酒可能是一种暂时的但适应不良的方式，用来避免或缓解抑郁症状。
