Participants who reported consuming alcohol on at least 6 occasions (94.1% of the sample) were asked about the frequency with which they had consumed 5 or more drinks in a single day (i.e., engaged in HED) during the previous 12 months. Fourteen possible responses were presented, ranging from ‘never’ to ‘every day.’ For the current study, responses were collapsed into 5 categories: never, 1-11 days per year, 1-3 days per month, 1-3 days per week, and 4 or more days per week. If participants responded ‘yes’ to the question, ‘Was there ever a period of 12 months or longer when you drank more than you did in the past 12 months?’ HED was queried for that period. Frequency of HED in the heaviest period of use was coded as the higher of the two values from these questions for a given wave of data collection. Analyses were conducted with the maximum frequency reported across the 2 time points.
