Mental resilience and hangover severity

Introduction: Despite the fact that the majority of the drinkers experience a hangover, still a small subset of drinkers claims to be hangover resistant. This study examined if there is a difference between these two types of drinkers regarding their interpretation of wellbeing and psychological assets to bounce back. Methods: N = 2295 students from Utrecht University completed an online survey regarding their past month alcohol consumption patterns, mental resilience, optimism and psychological wellbeing. Mental resilience, optimism, and wellbeing were assessed with respectively, the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), and the 5-item World Health Organization (WHO-5) Well- Being Index (all 5-point Likert scales). The estimated peak blood alcohol concentration (e-pBAC) had to reach ≥ 0.11%, and ≥ 0.18% to be included in the statistical analyses, in which hangover sensitive drinkers were compared with hangover resistant drinkers. Results: N = 2295 subjects completed the survey (83.4% female). N = 1937 reported consuming alcohol and approximately half of them (51.1%) had a hangover past month (hangover sensitive drinkers). N = 986 (80.1% female, 24.6% hangover resistant drinkers) reached e-pBAC ≥ 0.11%. N = 480 (79.2% female, 16.7% hangover resistant drinkers) reached e-pBAC ≥ 0.18%. No significant differences were found between the two groups for mental resilience, optimism, and wellbeing. No significant differences were observed between males and females. Conclusion: Hangover sensitive drinkers do not significantly differ from hangover resistant drinkers with regards to mental resilience, optimism, and psychological wellbeing.