Think unemployment is a worry? Binge drinking can lower job prospects

WASHINGTON: Heavy drinking six times a month may lower the chances of a new college graduate to land a job by 10 per cent, a study warns.

"Binge-drinking" is defined as ingesting four or more alcoholic drinks within two hours by a woman and five or more alcoholic drinks within two hours by a man, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the US.

Researchers, including those from Cornell University in the US, found that each individual episode of student binge-drinking during a month-long period lowers the odds of attaining full-time employment upon graduation by 1.4 per cent.

"The manner in which students drink appears to be more influential than how much they drink when it comes to predicting the likelihood of getting a job upon graduation," said Peter Bamberger, professor at Tel Aviv University (TAU) in Israel.


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Researchers found that a non-binge pattern of drinking does not adversely impact job search results among graduates unless and until their drinking reaches binge levels.

The team studied 827 individuals who graduated in 2014, 2015, and 2016 from four universities in the US.


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"A student who binge-drinks four times a month has a six per cent lower probability of finding a job than a student who does not engage in similar drinking habits. Those students who drank heavily six times a month increased their unemployment probability to 10 per cent," said Bamberger.

The study was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.