A new study has looked at the relationship between drinking alcohol as a couple and the psychological state of both partners.
- A new study has found an association between alcohol consumption within a couple and the onset of depressive symptoms in young men.
- Moreover, men included in the study reported significantly higher levels of anxiety when both members of their relationship were heavy drinkers, a pattern that also led them to report less satisfaction with their romantic relationship.
- Alcohol consumption, which is very high in France, exposes people to numerous short- and long-term health risks.
Among young men, a significant association was established between alcohol consumption within their couple and the development of depressive symptoms.
To achieve this result, the researchers created a cohort of 239 students from a large American university. The selected participants were all between the ages of 18 and 25 and had been in a romantic relationship for at least three months.
At the start of the experiment, they were asked to report their level of alcohol consumption over the past two weeks and three months. They also told the scientists how much their partner drank.
Once all this data was collected, the researchers measured the levels of anxiety and depression in all the profiles included in the trial.
Couple: Alcohol linked to depression and anxiety in young men
The most significant finding from this work is that men who perceive their partner as having problems with alcohol tend to report higher levels of depression, a link that was not observed in women.
Moreover, men in the study reported significantly higher levels of anxiety when both partners were heavy drinkers, a pattern that also led them to report less satisfaction with their romantic relationships. Again, these causal relationships were not found among women.
Alcohol in couples: the limits of psychological study
Finally, it should be noted that this study used a cross-sectional design that does not allow us to know whether the perception of the partner’s drinking problems is the cause of depression in young men or whether depressed young men are more likely to perceive their partner’s drinking as problematic.
“In any case, the results of this study expand existing research on the impact of alcohol consumption within couples,” write the researchers at the end of their report.
The study was written by Katie P. Himes, Sarah E. Victor, Adam T. Schmidt, and Andrew K. Littlefield.
Alcohol consumption remains very high in France
Still very high in France, alcohol consumption exposes people to numerous health risks in the short and long term.
“Over the recent period, the proportion of adults consuming alcohol each week is 39% in mainland France” noted Public Health France in its latest report on the matter. “On the other hand, the phenomenon of occasional heavy drinking (or “binge-drinking”) follows contrasting recent trends: rather decreasing among young men, it tends to increase among women over 35 years old”, specifies the health agency.
