Specialty of Addiction Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Drug and Alcohol Services, Northern Sydney Local Health District, NSW Health, Sydney, Australia.
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2021 Nov;40(7):1173-1177. doi: 10.1111/dar.13241. Epub 2021 Jan 24.
The ability to accurately detect alcohol intoxication is an important skill for people who use these substances and for a variety of professions (e.g. policing, responsible service of alcohol). Previous studies have found that intoxicated people are generally poor at estimating their own intoxication (particularly at high blood alcohol concentration; BAC) and the relationship between perceived intoxication and BAC appears to flatten at higher BAC levels. Studies of observer ratings of other's intoxication have yielded mixed results. The aim of this study was to investigate both self- and observer-ratings of intoxication against BAC levels to determine whether we observe a similar flattening in intoxication for both self- and observer-rated intoxication.
Participants were 388 students interviewed outside three university events. Participants provided demographics, a rating of how intoxicated they felt (0 = not at all, 10 = very) and provided an alcohol breath test. Interviewers recorded a rating of how intoxicated the participant appeared to be.
A significant correlation was observed between self- and observer-ratings of intoxication (r = 0.802). We fitted our data with both linear and polynomial regressions. Polynomial regression accounted for more variance when predicting both self-rated intoxication (R = 0.50 vs. R = 0.40) and observer-rated intoxication from BAC (R = 0.58 vs. R = 0.52), suggesting a flattening for both intoxication ratings.
Both self-rated and observer-rated intoxication appeared to flatten at higher levels of BAC. This may be due to either tolerance or a 'ceiling effect' for observable signs of intoxication.
准确检测醉酒状态的能力对于使用这些物质的人和各种职业（例如警察、负责任的酒类服务）的人来说都是一项重要的技能。先前的研究发现，醉酒的人通常很难准确估计自己的醉酒程度（尤其是在血液酒精浓度高时），并且感知到的醉酒程度与 BAC 之间的关系似乎在较高的 BAC 水平下趋于平稳。对其他观察者评估他人醉酒程度的研究得出的结果不一。本研究旨在调查自我和观察者对醉酒的评估与 BAC 水平之间的关系，以确定我们是否观察到自我和观察者评估的醉酒程度都存在类似的平稳化现象。
参与者为在三个大学活动场外接受采访的 388 名学生。参与者提供了人口统计学信息、对自己感到醉酒程度的评分（0 = 一点也不，10 = 非常）以及进行了酒精呼气测试。采访者记录了参与者看起来醉酒的程度评分。
观察到自我和观察者对醉酒程度的评分之间存在显著相关性（r = 0.802）。我们使用线性和多项式回归拟合了我们的数据。多项式回归在预测自我评分的醉酒程度（R ² = 0.50 与 R ² = 0.40）和观察者评分的醉酒程度与 BAC 之间（R ² = 0.58 与 R ² = 0.52）时，解释了更多的方差，表明两种醉酒评分都趋于平稳。
自我和观察者评估的醉酒程度似乎在 BAC 较高水平时趋于平稳。这可能是由于耐受性或可观察到的醉酒迹象的“上限效应”。
