Unraveling the Impact of Mental Health on Binge Drinking Behavior

Background: Binge drinking (> 5 drinks for men and > 4 drinks for women within 2 hours) has been associated with serious social and mental health problems. Approximately 3 million people worldwide die each year due to alcohol consumption. Therefore, our objective was to determine whether more days with poor mental health in the past 30 days was associated with a higher likelihood of binge drinking in the U.S. population, considering socioeconomic variables such as sex, marital status, race/ethnicity, education, and income. Methods: We included people aged 18–50 years who had responded “yes” or “no” for binge drinking and the following variables from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) database: mental health, sex, race/ethnicity, age, marital status, employment status, yearly income, education level, exercise habits, and general health. The binge drinking variable allowed us to divide the participants into two groups: a binge drinking (BD) group and a control (CT) group. Results: Of the 145,349 observations (male = 70,558; female = 74,469), the weighted frequency was 50% for each sex, and the BD group consisted predominantly of males (63% ± 0.005), white, single, and employed individuals with 12 or more years of education. The BD group reported more days with poor mental health (p < 0.001, r = 0.041). Poor mental health was associated with a 2% increase in the likelihood of binge drinking (AOR = 1.02; 95% CI = 1.01 to 1.02). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that individuals with more days of poor mental health are more likely to engage in binge drinking. Consequently, interventions focused on promoting mental health care, particularly among employed young males, are crucial for reducing the prevalence of binge drinking and mitigating its associated negative outcomes.