Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; College of Education, Psychology, and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
Eat Behav. 2021 Apr;41:101510. doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2021.101510. Epub 2021 Apr 20.
Food and alcohol disturbance involves restricting, purging, or excessively exercising to compensate for the calories consumed from drinking alcohol, or to enhance intoxication levels. But these compensatory behaviors, colloquially termed "drunkorexia," have only been investigated in young adult samples-primarily college students-who are presumed to be at risk due to their high episodic drinking rates. Therefore, this study sought preliminary evidence that food and alcohol disturbance occurs in a broader age-range sample of adult drinkers. We recruited 253 participants aged 18 to 76 (M = 38.71) from Mechanical Turk. Rates of food and alcohol disturbance (measured by the Compensatory Eating Behaviors in Response to Alcohol Consumption) were high: 64% of the sample endorsed performing at least one compensatory behavior in the past three months. There were no gender differences in overall prevalence, though men were more likely than women to engage in food and alcohol disturbance to enhance intoxication levels. Drinking habits, drinking motivated by conformity, and abnormal eating attitudes were the strongest predictors of food and alcohol disturbance. However, eating attitudes were a stronger predictor of these behaviors in men than women, whilst drinking habits were a stronger predictor of these behaviors in women than men. The high prevalence of food and alcohol disturbance in our broad age-range sample, alongside the far-reaching health consequences of these behaviors, highlights the need for increased awareness in younger, middle, and older adults alike.
饮食和酒精紊乱包括限制、清除或过度运动，以补偿饮酒所摄入的卡路里，或提高醉酒水平。但这些代偿行为，俗称“drunkorexia”，仅在年轻成年人群体中进行了研究，主要是大学生，因为他们的饮酒频率较高，被认为存在风险。因此，本研究旨在初步证明饮食和酒精紊乱在更广泛的成年饮酒者年龄范围内存在。我们从 Mechanical Turk 招募了 253 名年龄在 18 至 76 岁之间的参与者（M=38.71）。饮食和酒精紊乱的发生率很高：64%的样本在过去三个月内至少进行了一种代偿行为。总体患病率在性别上没有差异，但男性比女性更倾向于通过饮食和酒精紊乱来提高醉酒水平。饮酒习惯、为了顺应群体而饮酒的动机以及异常的饮食态度是饮食和酒精紊乱的最强预测因素。然而，在男性中，饮食态度对这些行为的预测作用强于女性，而在女性中，饮酒习惯对这些行为的预测作用强于男性。在我们广泛的年龄范围内，饮食和酒精紊乱的高患病率，以及这些行为所带来的深远的健康后果，突显了需要提高年轻人、中年人和老年人对这些问题的认识。
