For the study, researchers comparewd alcohol-related hangover anxiety in 110 male and 110 female adolescent rodents and 115 male and 115 female adult rodents. The animals were injected with four grams of either alcohol or saline.

The scientists found that the younger rodents experienced less anxiety during the hangover phase and recovered faster from the effects of a hangover than the adult rodents. Hangover symptonms included rapid heartbeat, increased blood pressure, sweating, nausea, and seizures.

Furthermore, the adolescent rodents were more socially responsive during the hangover phase than the adult animals. "We already know that adolescent rats are more resistant to the motor-impairing, sedative, and social-impairing effects of alcohol than adults," said Elena I. Varlinskaya, associate research professor at Binghamton University and corresponding author for the study. "In contrast, adolescent animals are more sensitive to chronic alcohol exposure, showing more pronounced alcohol-related memory problems and brain damage than adults. Similarly, human adolescents are more vulnerable to the chronic effects of alcohol consumption than adults. They become alcohol dependent in an average of seven months after beginning regular drinking, whereas adults show their first symptoms of alcohol dependency only after three years of regular drinking."

In translating the study's results to humans, Varlinskaya said that the minimal hangover effects and the social benefits may encourage adolescents to drink again.

"An alcohol-associated enhancement of social interactions, both during a drinking episode and during the post-alcohol recovery period, could help establish a persisting cycle of drinking in at-risk adolescent individuals which may lead to dependency and a life-long history of alcohol-related problems," she said.

The research is published in the January 2004 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

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