By Stephen BeechHeavy drinking students damage their pals' physical and mental health as well as their own, according to new research. Lead researcher Dr. Pamela Trangenstein said: “We often think of alcohol’s harms as physical or social, but this was the first study to assess academic harms from others’ drinking, like having to drop a class or take on extra work. The team asked about five harms the participants may have experienced from others’ drinking: being harassed, being physically harmed, experiencing unwanted sexual contact, experiencing academic harms, and “babysitting” the drinker. The researchers also asked students about their own academic satisfaction and performance and supplied questionnaires to ascertain the students’ mental health status. The findings showed that different harms were linked to different aspects of academic performance and mental health outcomes.

Source: Daily Sun January 05, 2026 22:06 UTC