Cathy Lau-Barraco

Abstract Eating restrictions and alcohol use are prevalent problems on college campuses. Some students engage in eating restrictions prior to drinking to limit overall caloric intake or enhance intoxication. Limited research suggests drinking-related eating restrictions are associated with unique health risks relative to high-risk drinking alone.

Abstract Objective: The current study examined (1) differences in close friend drinking norms from pre-pandemic to during the pandemic, and (2) how COVID-19 social drinking contexts (in-person, virtual) moderated associations between during-pandemic close friend norms and consumption. Participants: Undergraduate students (N = 469; 75.5% female; 57.6% White) were recruited from a minority-serving university in the United States.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are prevalent (Goldstein et al. 2016; Grant et al. 2015), economically burdensome (Davis et al. 2022; Kendler et al. 2017), and commonly comorbid (Blanco et al. 2013). PTSD-AUD comorbidity is associated with greater psychiatric (e.g., higher symptom severity and comorbidity, poorer treatment outcomes) and medical (e.g., chronic disease, premature death) issues compared to either disorder in isolation (Norman et al. 2018).