Nausea, headaches and difficulty concentrating are only a number of of the hangover symptoms that may besiege young adults who drink alcohol to excess. To achieve a greater understanding of how heavy drinking impacts young adults, Ashley Linden-Carmichael, Penn State associate research professor of health and human development, is leading a two-year study funded by a $421,000 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, considered one of the National Institutes of Health. She’s going to examine the results of alcohol use on young adults’ every day cognitive functioning the day after a drinking episode.

In line with the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2.4 million adults ages 18-25 reported heavy alcohol use in month prior.

Since heavy drinking can affect work or school performance, we hope our research will shed a lightweight on who’s in need of monitoring and early intervention.”

Linden-Carmichael, multiple-principal investigator on the study

The researchers will collect intensive self-reported data from 250 young adults over the course of 21 days to explore the results of alcohol use on cognitive functioning. Participants shall be asked to finish temporary surveys sent 4 times per day via text and complete tests to gauge their memory and other cognitive functions.

Analyses will include how much the participants drank the day prior to this and the way long the results of alcohol use lasted throughout the three weeks of the study. The researchers may even think about demographic data and whether the participants also used cannabis the day prior to this.

The research team can be concerned about possible damage to the brain and nervous system attributable to drinking over the course of years.

“Depending on findings from our current study, we would really like to follow young adults to know whether the link between alcohol use and cognitive functioning persists over time -; if there may be impact on the brain, do these effects accumulate?” Linden-Carmichael asked.

Jacqueline Mogle, associate professor at Clemson University, is multiple-principal investigator on the study with Linden-Carmichael. Stephen Wilson, Penn State professor of psychology, is collaborating on the study.