Adolescent drinking damages later verbal learning and memory performance
Researchers examined participants who were known to begin drinking during adolescence (n=112), giving them VLM assessments at two different times: first, prior to the onset of drinking (at age 12-16); and second, approximately six years later. Participants w ere grouped, based on their alcohol involvement at follow-up, as moderate (≤4 drinks per occasion), binge (5+ drinks per occasion), or extreme-binge (10+ drinks per occasion) drinkers. Results showed that the amount of alcohol consumed during adolescence adversely affected VLM performance in a dose-dependent manner. The acquisition of new verbal information seemed to be particularly affected, especially for the heaviest drinkers. While there were no gender differences in VLM performance, the authors note that the extreme-binge group had roughly 50 percent more boys than the moderate and binge groups, which is consistent with data showing that high-school boys are up to three times more likely to be extreme-binge drinkers. ...