The study has several limitations. Firstly, longitudinal standard and extreme bingeing was assessed every six months by retrospectively reporting the monthly frequency for the proceeding six months, which could make the data subject to memory errors and other self-report biases. Secondly, the binge drinkers in the study were high functioning: the vast majority were still attending college and on average, participants had relatively few bingeing episodes during the two years follow-up. Therefore, different findings might be observed with samples with a heavier or chronic binge drinking pattern.
