I conducted a small scale anonymous study regarding depression in partygoers and non-partygoers, and I received some interesting results. My hypothesis was that party goers would be a little more depressed than non-partygoers, as alcohol is a known downer, and marijuana can also act as a downer. Most college students that answered my survey responded by saying they attended at least one party per week, as 86.7% of the people that partook in my survey had answered that they partied between 1-5 times per week, with 40% saying they partied 2-5 times a week. My end goal was to be able to look at the final results and piece together a conclusion that pointed to partying either increasing or decreasing levels of depression, hopefully without receiving results that didn’t make sense. In turn, maybe this could help people to decrease their amounts of partying if they’ve been experiencing depression. This was the entire point of my survey, as I wanted people to see firsthand that maybe partying is increasing their levels of depression, and that stopping or decreasing how often they party could really help to put them in a better mental state. This could make a huge difference in someone’s life, as some participants in my survey had recorded that they experienced suicidal thoughts, and had partied a decent amount. By creating and analyzing this survey publicly, my goal is to be able to help someone with their depression. This could lead to someone leading a much happier life, and could possibly prevent someone from eventually taking their life.
I used ‘Google Forms’ to create a short 10 question survey that asked basic questions about how frequently people had been going to parties, drinking, and smoking. I also included questions regarding depression, suicidal thoughts, and I even included a question that asked if partygoers attributed an increase in depression directly to partying. My results were as I expected; however, some of the results were quite staggering. I wasn’t surprised that 60% of the survey takers admitted to being medically diagnosed with depression, as it’s a huge problem in our youth and society today. Two thirds of the people that answered they had depression actually said that partying increased the severity of their depression, while the other 20% had said they hadn’t noticed a difference. 20% of those people even answered that they attributed partying to some suicidal thoughts they were experiencing. I found these results to be sort of startling, as partying is usually viewed as a fun way to relieve some stress, meet new people, and have a good time with your buddies. I thought some people had probably experienced an increase in depression from drinking and smoking, but I didn’t expect the results I got. Also, less than 14% of people that took my survey said that they hadn’t smoked marijuana within the past week, while 46.7% of people answered that they’d smoked 7 or more times a week (almost every day). Everyone that took my survey consumes alcohol during the week, and the majority of the people taking the survey said they consumed 6 drinks per party on average.
Enough about my survey and statistics. The fact that alcohol is a downer is pretty common knowledge. According to the addictioncenter.com, a website run by an addiction recovery center, “Drinking profoundly alters an individual’s mood, behavior, and neuropsychological functioning. For many people, alcohol consumption is a means of relaxation; however, the effects of alcohol and hangovers can actually induce anxiety and increase stress.” This being said, drinking can be fun, as long as it’s in moderation. College parties are places where people typically drink a lot more than 1 drink, so partying frequently could turn out to be a problem. Not quite the same can be said about marijuana. Marijuana is an entirely new conversation. Many people enjoy it recreationally, and many people use it medicinally, but not everyone’s body reacts the same way. There are many different strains of marijuana, and a few different ways in which it can affect people. As I found on socratic.org, when acting as a stimulant, weed could induce elevated moods, increased heart rate, paranoia, and anxiety. When acting as a hallucinogen, it can cause nausea, an altered sense of space and time, loss of control over motor skills, and a loss of a sense of self. When acting as a depressant, you could experience relaxation, memory loss, dizziness, and sleepiness. If this is a part of partying for some people, and they’re experiencing symptoms of anxiety, depression, or anything else negative, it’s a sign to either cut down or stop.
In the end, my results proved a connection between partying and higher levels of depression. I’ve known some heavy partiers, drinkers, and smokers, and I know they had depression, as they’d told me about it. They had told me that they began to experience more intense levels of it as they began partying more heavily. I conducted this survey in order to confirm my theory that these two things are related, as when they had stopped partying, they’d started being visibly/noticeably happier. I wanted to create and distribute this survey in order to see if they weren’t alone, as others could benefit from the conclusion of this survey. Perhaps these results can help others, and possibly suggest that they should at least cut down on their partying/drinking/smoking if they’re experiencing heightened levels of depression.
Below are my works cited and a link to an excel sheet containing my survey results.
Work Cited
Walther, Andreas, Rice, Timothy, Yael, Ehlert, & Ulrike. (2016, December 15). Neuroendocrinology of a Male-Specific Pattern for Depression Linked to Alcohol Use Disorder and Suicidal Behavior. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00206/full
Is Alcohol a Depressant? – Depressants. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2020, from https://www.addictioncenter.com/alcohol/is-alcohol-a-depressant/
Is Alcohol a Depressant? – Depressants. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2020, from https://www.addictioncenter.com/alcohol/is-alcohol-a-depressant/
Excel Depression Rates of Party Goers v.s. Non-Party Goers.csv
RIPE Magazine | Volume 1 