College students who frequently drink alone, known as ‘solo drinkers,’ tend to experience higher levels of depression and anxiety. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Mar. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent study has uncovered that college students who frequently drink alone, known as ‘solo drinkers,’ tend to experience higher levels of depression and anxiety compared to their peers who drink socially.
The research, led by Jeon Hye-Rin, a clinical psychologist in training at Yonsei University College of Medicine’s Severance Hospital, was published in the journal of the Korean Psychological Association. It delves into the psychological traits of different drinking groups among students.
The study categorized 330 college students in Seoul into four groups based on their responses to the Korean version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-K) and their drinking habits: solo drinking, social drinking, concurrent drinking, and non-risky drinking.
Solo drinkers, defined as those engaging in solo drinking sessions more than two or three times a month but less frequently in social drinking scenarios, showed significantly higher depression scores (28.08 points) compared to social drinkers (16.45 points) and non-risky drinkers (17.97 points).
Moreover, the study found that solo drinkers also had higher social anxiety scores, measuring the fear of social interactions, at 46.67 points. This was in contrast to social drinkers at 27.64 points, concurrent drinkers at 33.13 points, and non-risky drinkers at 32.56 points.
The research further indicated that solo drinkers were more likely to avoid and deny problematic situations compared to those in the social drinking group.
“The findings highlight that solo drinkers experience more anxiety in social situations and tend to withdraw from interpersonal relationships,” the research team stated. “This sheds light on the psychological factors associated with solo drinking, which is known as a risk and relapse factor for alcohol use disorder, marking the significance of our study.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
