Words often have different meanings for different people. Sometimes, there are multiple words for the same activity. And, sometimes, the unique word used for a specific activity tells something about the person who uses that word. In a recent study conducted by Penn State researchers, they found that your vocabulary provides clues about your drinking habits.
Focus on Young Adults
The recent study was led by Ashley Linden-Carmichael, assistant research professor in the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, which has been leading the field of prevention science since 1998, using research to create programs and inform policies that promote the health and well-being of children and families. The researchers examined the language that young adults, between 18 and 25, used to describe different levels of inebriation.
Their results suggest that the language these young adults use to describe the effects they feel from drinking may provide insight into their drinking habits. As a result of the study, the researchers discovered not only the language young people are using, but also discovered four distinct “classes” of drinkers: happy drinkers, relaxed drinkers, buzzed drinkers, and multi-experience drinkers.
Four Categories of Vocabulary Terms
When the researchers examined the data that they had collected from the study participants, they found that there were four categories of vocabulary and habits around drinking. The largest group was “happy drinkers,” who made up 31% of participants and who mostly reported feeling happy when drinking.
The next group, at 24%, were “relaxed drinkers,” who reported feeling happy, relaxed, and buzzed. “Buzzed drinkers” made up 18% of the participants, who reported feeling buzzed and dizzy. Relaxed drinkers tended to report heavier alcohol use and buzzed drinkers tended to report drinking less often.
“Finally we had the group that we called the ‘multi-experience drinker class,’ which made up 27% of our participants,” Linden-Carmichael said. “They reported feeling buzzed, tipsy, drunk, and were also the only group to report ‘wasted’ as a common word to describe how they feel while drinking. So this group might be the one most likely to drink for the purpose of getting drunk.”
Using the Right Vocabulary to Reach Young Adults
Linden-Carmichael added that “We’re finding that young adults have a wide range of vocabulary they use around drinking, and we should make sure we’re using words that they are using instead of more clinical terms like ‘intoxicated.’ Even the word ‘drunk’ may not be seen as the highest level of drinking. As researchers or clinicians, we need to incorporate contemporary language into our work.”
Understanding the drinking habits of young adults, as well as the vocabulary they use to describe their drinking habits, is critical to alcohol abuse prevention and intervention. Recent research suggests that how drunk someone feels, which can be uncovered through their word choices, may be a better predictor of risky behavior than an objective measure of how drunk they actually are, like blood alcohol content (BAC).
At-Risk Population
Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are in a high-risk category for alcohol use disorder. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) statistics from 2018, an estimated 55.1 percent of young adults aged 18 to 25 were current alcohol users, which corresponds to about 18.8 million young adults. In addition, more than half of young adults were current alcohol users in each year from 2002 to 2018 (ranging from 55.1 to 62.0 percent).
An estimated 34.9 percent of young adults aged 18 to 25 in 2018 were binge drinkers in the past month, which corresponds to about 11.9 million young adults. In other words, more than a third of young adults in 2018 were current binge drinkers. About 1 out of every 11 young adults aged 18 to 25 (9.0 percent) in 2018 was a current heavy alcohol drinker. This percentage corresponds to 3.1 million young adults who engaged in heavy drinking in the past month.
The Importance of Vocabulary
Penn State researcher Linden-Carmichael suggests that it is important to understand that vocabulary provides clues about your drinking habits, especially for professionals who are helping young people with substance use disorders. She states that “When interventionists are working with young adults who are struggling to reduce their drinking, they might benefit from using the same language that their participants are using.”
She adds, “For example, the word ‘intoxicated’ isn’t commonly used and may be associated with winding up in the hospital because of alcohol poisoning. So they could benefit from being sensitive to differences in the way people use different words.”
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