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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

Examination of Alcohol Abuse in Relation to Watching Sporting Events

Kaitlyn Wilson

University of North Florida

HSC 4730: Public Health Research

Dr. Emily Moore

December 6, 2020
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

Abstract

Sports are watched by people across the globe and a common pastime is consuming alcohol,

whether it is in celebration of a win, disheartened from a loss, or just to have a good time. There

is speculation that the drinking happening at or during sporting events could be at a dangerous

level. The question this study will answer is whether watching sporting events correlates to

heavy drinking in people over the age of 21 in Duval County, Florida. Studies have shown that

there does seem to be a correlation to heavy drinking while watching sporting events, however,

many of the articles are regarding college sporting events. It is stereotypical that college students

throw huge parties for games and like to tailgate prior to the games. This might not be true for all

people who watch sporting events who are of older ages. There was also evidence of tailgating

and heavy drinking in professional sporting events as well, but most studies seemed to focus in

on college settings. The goal of this study will be to focus on professional sporting events rather

than just college events since that is more relevant to Duval County, Florida and to get a wider

age range than just college age people. There are many sports teams in Duval County who play

year-round and it is important to benefit the community by doing this research. This study will

examine all of these different sporting events by being two years long with one year of data

collection making it a longitudinal study. This can be used to better the community overall and to

help stop heavy drinking habits.

Keywords: alcohol, sporting events, adults, sports, tailgates

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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

Introduction

There are many people who enjoy alcoholic beverages while watching different sports

teams play, but at some point, it can go too far. In people aged 21 and older there is a line

between having a few drinks and heavily drinking to the point of it being considered alcohol

abuse. Alcohol abuse or binge drinking is the consumption of alcohol that goes over the standard

limit for males and females. People get very excited for sporting events and throw parties and

celebrate if their team wins, this usually includes alcohol. The question is does watching these

sporting events have a correlation to heavy drinking in people over the age of 21 in Duval

County, Florida? The hypothesis of this study is that watching sporting events does not correlate

to heavy drinking in adults 21 years of age and older in Duval County, Florida.

Watching Sporting Events

While watching a sporting event people could get carried away and have a few more

drinks than they had originally planned. This can be due to many factors like whether or not their

team is doing well or if the person is overly excited for this particular game. In an article written

by Phillip Bupp he explores some of the factors that cause people to drink during games in

stadiums. Things such as duration of the game, how many pauses there are, and whether their

team won or lost. Also, in the article he explains that “[National Football League] NFL and

[National Hockey League] NHL fans are the only sports averaging over three drinks a game,”

(Bupp, 2017, p. 1). This shows that certain types of fans are closer to the binge drinking limit

while watching a game in person. These types of games are the ones with more stopping points

which can be a factor in how much someone drinks during the game because they have more

opportunities to go get concessions without missing any action. This is important to note because

the exposure of the study is examining sporting events relation to heavy drinking.
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

Attending Tailgates

Tailgating is a popular form of preparing for and watching sporting events. These are

typically a small party to cookout and drink at before going into the stadium to watch the game.

People also often will stay at their vehicles outside the stadium to watch the game and continue

the party and cooking. In a study by Tavis Glassman, et al., in 2011 the Blood Alcohol

Concentration Rate (BrAC) was taken for fans who were tailgating a college football game.

There was a short survey to take and a breathalyzer test to determine how much fans had to drink

while tailgating. In the study 90% of the people surveyed drank alcohol during the two-hour

window before the game and had an average of 0.054 mL/L for their BrAC test (Glassman, et al.,

2011, p. 62). This study was done prior to the game and these people planned to attend the game

in the stadium or to watch from outside and continue to tailgate. With this high number of Blood

Alcohol Concentration before the game one can only imagine how much more could be

consumed during the actual game. The study, however, could have been slightly off because of

the survey portion. There were a few reports of people under the age of 21 drinking, but that

number could have been higher, and students may have lied during the survey since a high

amount were Undergraduate students. This shows the alcohol consumption happening outside of

the stadium and how people party in preparation to watch these sporting events.

Alcohol Abuse

Binge drinking can be interchanged with words such as heavy drinking or alcohol abuse

meaning someone is excessively drinking alcoholic beverages beyond a healthy and legal limit.

Naimi et al., defines binge drinking as “the consumption of 5 or more drinks on at least 1

occasion in the previous 30 days,” (2003, p. 71). Typically, “the average male is binge drinking

after consuming 5 drinks in two to three hours… the average female only needs to consume 4
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

drinks to be at the threshold of binge drinking,” (Safeprooforg, 2017, p. 1). These studies slightly

contradict each other because one is saying within the last 30 days and the other is saying within

two or three hours. This, however, could be due to the fact that the article by Naimi, et al., was

done in 2003 and the article by Safeprooforg was done in 2017 so it was more modern with more

research to help define binge drinking. Either way both prove the point that 4-5 drinks is the limit

to be qualified as someone binge drinking. It is extremely easy for the average male or female to

consume 4 to 5 drinks between tailgating, watching the game, and post-game celebrations. It is

seen that the act of watching a sporting event can have many parts and drinking is involved

almost every step. Abusing alcohol is not healthy for a person and can lead to unhealthy

behaviors. Overall, alcohol abuse should not be taken lightly and anything that can cause it to

happen, such as watching sporting events should be limited.

Health Issues

Alcohol abuse can have various effects on someone’s health which is why it is important

to examine what the leading causes of alcohol abuse are. Patricia E. Molina and Steve Nelson

studied the effects of binge drinking and found that “Alcohol misuse is the fifth-leading risk

factor for premature death and disability worldwide,” (2018, p. 99). Alcohol abuse is negatively

affecting the population and can cause issues in almost all of the body’s major systems. This is a

fairly recent study, so the findings are solid evidence for the negative impacts of alcohol on one’s

overall health. This goes to show how abusing alcohol can have lasting negative effects and any

causes of heavy drinking should be identified and limited as much as possible.

Violence

Alcohol abuse can lead to violent behavior and this is a concern to people who might be

trying to enjoy watching a game at a stadium and get involved in an altercation with someone
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

who is drunk. It can also cause people to drive drunk or do other things that are harmful to the

community in terms of crime. There is startling evidence to prove that alcohol consumption at

sporting events leads to an increase in violence and criminal activity (Flice, et al., 2016). Alcohol

abuse can lead to personal harm and to the harm of others for example, “arrest data in college

towns on football game days increased from an average of 12 on non-game days to 70 on game

days,” (Flice, et al., 2016, p. 51). Flice calls attention to the alarming increase in arrests due to

people drinking on game days which suggests a need for game day drinking limitations.

Violence due to heavy drinking can happen anytime someone is abusing alcohol, but the

statistics seem to increase greatly specifically surrounding sporting events. This impacts the

community negatively and causes discomfort to those in the surrounding area. To have a happy

and healthy community this issue should have more attention shed on it.

Conclusion

Whether it is watching the game in person or tailgating, both have high chances of fans

drinking excessively due to watching the sporting events. There is a large amount of excitement

surrounding sports before, during, and even after the games that can lead to the abuse of alcohol

and put people in dangerous situations. With the many sports teams who play in Duval County,

this is of utmost importance that this issue is brought to light to help prevent residents who are 21

and older from falling victim to alcohol abuse. As can be seen by previous studies, alcohol abuse

can be extremely dangerous and lead to health issues and unnecessary violent acts in the

community. This makes alcohol a danger not only to those consuming it, but also to those around

them. To help stop these negative effects more studies should be done to focus on the fact that

there is a correlation between alcohol abuse and watching sporting events. These studies help to
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

prove that watching sporting events can increase the likelihood that an adult over the age of 21

will consume heavy amounts of alcohol while watching or attending a sporting event.

Pilot Study

An anonymous survey was created and available for anyone over 21 years of age, living

in Duval County, Florida to take. 53 people responded to the survey. The age limit was set

because only people of legal drinking age pertain to this study. A variety of questions were asked

relating to the amount they watched sporting events, what type of sporting events they watched,

if they drank more while watching those sporting events, and what type of sports themed events

they attended. This initial data collection was in the form of a cross-sectional study to focus on

the exposure and outcome of a certain population.

Of the respondents to the anonymous survey 16 (30.19%) were male, 37 (69.81%) were

female, 0 (0%) were non-gender conforming, and 0 (0%) preferred not to say. A common

stereotype is that females do not watch sports as often as males do so with there being more than

double the number of females who took this survey that is concerning. The age range of survey

respondents was 45 (84.91%) between 21 and 24, 8 (15.09%) between the ages of 25 and 34, 0

(0%) between 35 and 44, 0 (0%) between 45 and 54, 0 (0%) between 55 and 64, and 0 (0%) for

ages 65 and older. This showed that most taking the survey were likely in college since the

highest number of respondents were between 21 and 24.

Of survey respondents 41 (77.36%) stated that they do watch sporting events at least once

a month and 12 (22.64%) stated they do not watch sporting events at least once a month. This

was surprising after seeing that most of the respondents of the survey were female. Another

surprising result was how many times a month on average the survey respondent watched a

sporting event, for this question 0 was not an option since it was an average. For this question 15
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

(28.30%) reported they watched a sporting event 1 time a month on average, 8 (15.09%) reported

2 times a month, 8 (15.09%) reported 3 times a month, 4 (7.55%) reported 4 times a month, and

18 (33.96%) reported 5 or more times a month. Out of the 15 (28.30%) who said they watch

once a month on average it can be inferred that 12 of those could be those who said they do not

watch sporting events at least once a month in the previous question. The fact that 18 (33.96%)

said they watched more than 5 sporting events on average was surprising and shows the amount

that people in Duval County, Florida do actually watch sporting events.

The next question asked the place respondents were most likely to watch a sporting

events and consume alcohol. Out of the survey respondents 3 (5.66%) said they were most likely

so consume alcohol while watching a sporting event at a stadium, 20 (37.74%) said at home, 6

(11.32%) said at a restaurant, 19 (35.85%) said at a bar or sports bar, and 5 (9.43%) said at

another location. This makes sense since most people probably feel more comfortable drinking in

their homes or throwing their own parties. Also, bars and sports bars have an atmosphere that is

more conducive to drink in especially while watching a sporting event.

The respondents were asked which type of celebratory game day events they might

choose to attend, and more than one option was available to select per respondent. The surveyed

respondents said they regularly (1-2 times a month) attended the following events: tailgates 24

(26.97%), pre-gaming events 24 (26.97%), sports-themed parties 20 (22.47%), and none of the

above 21 (23.60%). There were 89 total responses to this question since more than one answer

could have been chosen, since everyone who said none of the above selected no other options

that means that 21 out 53 respondents (39.62%) attend no celebratory game day events. Out of

the respondents surveyed 18 (25.35%) said that they would be most likely to consume alcohol at

a tailgate, 30 (42.25%) said at a pre-gaming event, and 23 (32.39%) said at a sports-themed

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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

party. This question also allowed survey respondents to choose more than one answer and had 71

total responses. This was surprising because in the previous question the number of people who

said they attended tailgates and pre-gaming parties was the same but, in this question, people say

they would be more likely to drink at a pre-gaming event 30 (42.25%) rather than a tailgate 18

(23.35%).

The most important two questions in this survey asked respondents how much they drank

on a normal day versus on a game day. They were not asked one after the other so respondents

would answer more truthfully and not feel pressure to answer them a certain a way. As shown in

Figure 1 27 (50.94%) have 0 standard drinks on a non-game day, 22 (41.51%) have 1-2 drinks, 1

(1.89%) has 3-4 drinks, 2 (3.77%) have 5-6 drinks, and 1 (1.89%) has 7 or more drinks. Also, it

shows that 11 (20.75%) have 0 standard drinks on a game day, 18 (33.96%) have 1-2 drinks, 15

(28.30%) have 3-4 drinks, 6 (11.32%) have 5-6 drinks, and 3 (5.66%) have 7 or more drinks.

Overall there is an obvious spike in the amount of drinks consumed during a game day. This

shows that watching sporting events is correlated with heavy drinking in adults over 21 in Duval

County, Florida.
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

Pilot Study Chart

Figure 1

Graph of survey respondent’s alcohol consumption habits

Difference Between Drinking Habits on a Non-game Day vs. a Game

Day
30 27
25
Number of REspondents

22
20 18
15
15
11
10
6
5 2 3
1 1
0
0 1 or 2 3 or 4 5 or 6 7 or more

Number of Drinks Consumed

Drinks on a Non-game Day Drinks on a Game Day

Research Methods
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

This research will be carried out by one head researcher, Kaitlyn Wilson and a co-

researcher for the duration of the study. It will be a longitudinal study held over the course of

two years with the same sample group of people. An analysis technician will come in for four

months near the end of the study to help analyze results and input data. There will also be a

graduate student assisting with distributing surveys and getting the responses back, they will be

on the project for one year while the actual data collection is occurring.

The study participants must be over the age of 21 and live in Duval County, Florida to

participate. The first 250 people who respond to the initial survey will be the same participants

followed throughout the study. The participants involvement will be strictly voluntary, upon

taking the initial survey they will be given the consent form and asked if they would like to

participate in this study for the full year. The long time period is to examine drinking habits

during many different seasons of sporting events to get the most out of the results.

Once there are 250 people willing to participate they will be periodically given surveys to

fill out to examine their drinking habits around different types of sporting events. The

questionaries’ will be emailed or sent by postal mail and the return will be at no cost to the

participant. They will be sent to the participants every other month and on Super Bowl Sunday

for a total of 8 surveys being done throughout the one year including the initial recruiting survey.

Super Bowl Sunday was specially chosen being a day that people often have parties and

celebrate the big game day.

There will be no personal information needed in the results of the study, any questions

asked would only be about gender, age, or other non-specific traits, but never names, phone

numbers, or other personal identifiers. Names, email addresses, mailing addresses, and phone

numbers will be needed to send out the surveys, however, none of that information will be
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

included in the results. All personal information will be locked away or password protected and

only the head researcher and co-researcher will have access. In the event that the graduate

assistant is needed to help distribute surveys any personal information will be made anonymous

or censored for the participants protection. Once the results come in and are used to conduct the

final results all information will become anonymous to the analysis technician who will be

helping decipher and analyze the results.

The results of the study will be compiled after one year and each participants results will

be entered anonymously into a dataset after a codebook is created. Graphs, tables, and charts will

be created to view and compare the data found in the study. The goal is to have the initial survey

where participants are selected be the baseline information about habits during a normal time

period of watching no sporting events. The seven surveys following will be about the drinking

habits during specific sports seasons. These results will be compared to see if watching sporting

events causes people to drink more alcohol than they normally would.

Data Analysis

For most of the data analysis a univariate analysis will be used, and the data will then be

compared to answers from the original survey the participants take. Only one survey, the one

given for Super Bowl Sunday, will use bivariate analysis because it is comparing drinking habits

on a specific day for a specific event. A paired sample t-test will be used to help analyze the data

of drinks consumed on a non-game day versus drinks consumed on a game day. This test is ideal

to show if there is a difference in drinks consumed on those type of days or if there is no

difference at all.

Dissemination Plan
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

Once this study is concluded the results that are found will be submitted to a peer-

reviewed journal. From there it will be published in a journal so that people can see the findings

and make necessary changes within the community. As a matter of safety to the person abusing

alcohol and to those around them this is important information to get out to the public eye. The

results will be presented to a board of people who run popular stadiums in Duval County such as

TIAA Bank Field and VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena so that they are aware of the trend and

can put measures in place to reduce it in their stadiums. The results should also be presented to

any college within Duval County that has sports teams and regularly hosts sporting events on

campus so that students are also aware of the harms of alcohol abuse in relation to watching

sporting events.

References

Bupp, P. (2017). NFL and NHL viewers are more likely to binge drink during games in new

study. Retrieved Sept 21, 2020, from https://thecomeback.com/general/nfl-nhl-viewers-

likely-binge-drink-games-new-study.html

Filce, R., Hall, S. A., & Phillips, D. (2016). Stadium alcohol management: A best practices

approach.  International Journal of Sport Management, Recreation & Tourism, 21, 48-65.

doi:10.5199/ijsmart-1791-874X-21c

Glassman, T., Braun, R., Reindl, D. M., & Whewell, A. (2011). Blood (breath) alcohol

concentration rates of college football fans on game day. Journal of Alcohol and Drug

Education, 55(2), 55. Retrieved from University Readers database. Retrieved

from https://search.proquest.com/docview/894513062
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

Molina, P. E., & Nelson, S. (2018). Binge drinking's effects on the body. Alcohol Research:

Current Reviews, 39(1), 99-109. 

Naimi, T. S., Brewer, R. D., Mokdad, A., Denny, C., Serdula, M. K., & Marks, J. S. (2003).

Binge drinking among US adults.JAMA : The Journal of the American Medical

Association,  289(1), 70-75. doi:10.1001/jama.289.1.70

Safeprooforg. (2017). Sporting events and binge drinking

. Retrieved September 21, 2020, from https://medium.com/@tuhin_63915/sporting-events-

and-binge-drinking-598766f53b68
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Appendix A

Pilot Study Survey

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=-KBNDTFKdk2s5gpiMx4bhEi-

Y3RgCJdPokKWtSWHtIhUMlg5M1JYUVNCQ1Y0VjNVVDlUQ1RDUkI2OS4u
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Appendix B

Pilot Study Codebook

Survey Variable Categories

Question Question Names Label Code Label

No.
1 What is your gender? Gender Participant gender 1 Male
2 Female
3 Non-gender

conforming
4 Prefer not to say

2 What is your age? Age Participant age in 1 21-24

years
2 25-34
3 35-44
4 45-54
5 55-64
6 Age 65 & over

3 How many standard drinks do you consume throughout Drinks_nogame Drinks on non-game 1 None

the day on a non-game day? day

2 1 or 2
3 3 or 4
4 5 or 6
5 7 or more
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4 Do you attend a college or university with sports teams? Coll_w/ sport team College sport teams 1 Yes
2 No

5 Do you watch sports at least once a month? Watch_Mon Watching sports 1 Yes

monthly
2 No

6 On average, how many times a month do you watch a Times_Mon How many times 1 1

sporting event? monthly

2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5+

7a Where are you most likely to drink alcohol while Drink_spot Drinking spot 1 At a stadium

watching (in person or on tv) a sporting event?

2 At home
3 At a restaurant
4 At a bar/ sports

bar
5 Other

7b Where are you most likely to drink alcohol while Drink_spot_other Location_other 5 TEXT

watching (in person or on tv) a sporting event? *TEXT*

8 How many standard drinks do you consume throughout Drinking_Game day Drinks on game day 1 0

the day on a "game day"?

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2 1-2
3 3-4
4 5-6
5 7+

9a Which of the following events, if any, do you regularly Event_tailgate Tailgates 1 Yes

attend (1-2 times a month)? (select all that apply)

2 No

9b Which of the following events, if any, do you regularly Event_pre-game Pre-gamming events 1 Yes

attend (1-2 times a month)? (select all that apply)

2 No

9c Which of the following events, if any, do you regularly Event_party Sports themed parties 1 Yes

attend (1-2 times a month)? (select all that apply)

2 No

9d Which of the following events, if any, do you regularly Event_none None of the above 1 Yes

attend (1-2 times a month)? (select all that apply)

2 No

10a Out of the events you regularly attend, at which Cons_alc_tailgate Drinking at tailgate 1 Yes

celebratory event are you MOST LIKELY to consume

alcohol?
2 No
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10b Out of the events you regularly attend, at which Concum_alc_pre- Drinking at pre-game 1 Yes

celebratory event are you MOST LIKELY to consume game event

alcohol?
2 No

10c Out of the events you regularly attend, at which Cons_alc_party Drinking at sports 1 Yes

celebratory event are you MOST LIKELY to consume themed party

alcohol?
2 No

11 Have you encountered any alcohol-consumption-related Consump_rel issues Consumption Related 1 Yes

issues at a sporting event? Issues

2 No
3 I'm not sure

12a Rank the following sports by how frequently you watch Sport_Football Football 1 Always

the sport
2 Often
3 Sometimes
4 Rarely
5 Never

12b Rank the following sports by how frequently you watch Sport_Soccer Soccer 1 Always

the sport
2 Often
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3 Sometimes
4 Rarely
5 Never

12c Rank the following sports by how frequently you watch Sport_Baseball Baseball 1 Always

the sport
2 Often
3 Sometimes
4 Rarely
5 Never

12d Rank the following sports by how frequently you watch Sport_Basketball Basketball 1 Always

the sport
2 Often
3 Sometimes
4 Rarely
5 Never

12e Rank the following sports by how frequently you watch Sport_Ice Hockey Ice Hockey 1 Always

the sport
2 Often
3 Sometimes
4 Rarely
5 Never
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Appendix C

Human Subjects Plan

The title of this study will be the Examination of Alcohol Abuse in Relation to Watching

Sporting Events. The research question is does watching sporting events correlate to heavy

drinking in adults over the age of 21 in Duval County Florida? The method for this study will be

a longitudinal cohort study because the participants will not be recruited based off of whether or

not they drink, and the plan is to do the study over the course of one year. Data will be collected

by administering surveys both online and in the mail for participants who volunteer. All of the

data collection will be given electronically or by postal mail, so it will be safely stored in a folder

that will be password protected or locked away in a filing cabinet. Access to this folder or

cabinet will be limited to the two head researchers in charge of the study. The plan of the study is

to survey throughout one year to include all the different seasonal sports. There will be a need to

seek IRB approval for human studies research, but there will not be a need for full board

approval. 

This study will include only people who are 21 and over in Duval County, Florida of any

race, ethnicity, gender, or other demographic. Anyone aged 20 and under will be excluded

because they are not legally allowed to consume alcoholic beverages. These criteria are

important because there are laws in place that do not allow people aged 20 and younger to

consume alcohol. Other than age and location there is no other exclusion that is important to this

study. The goal is for the survey to be random and without bias. There will not be offering of any

incentives to join this study it will be voluntary only.

The research procedures planned to be used will be through surveys taken by the

voluntary study participants. The interactions will be online or through the postal mail service.
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Potential risks would only be the alcohol consumed by the study participants, but they are

consuming it at their own free will. This study will not encourage alcohol consumption when

administering the surveys at all. There could also be privacy risks of the participants information

being leaked outside of the two head researchers meant to examine it. However, there will be no

personal information asked for in the survey other than age and gender. The survey will be

mostly anonymous, and should information get leaked it should not affect any participants

personal identities. Benefits could be learning how much alcohol consumption is happening at

sporting events in Duval County, Florida to prove or disprove the hypothesis. Potentially a

benefit could be learning that alcohol consumption rates are high and being able to put

restrictions in place to limit it. Since everything is done by the participants free will the risks and

benefits are based off of their own actions. The risks are reasonable because the actions taken by

the participants would have happened even if this study was not being conducted. The biggest

risk is caused by the participants consuming alcohol and that is not a requirement of this study.

This could benefit the participants and others by limiting alcohol consumption at sporting events

and improving the safety of the community because of it. 

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Appendix D

INFORMED CONSENT FORM

to Participate in Research, and

AUTHORIZATION
to Collect, Use, and Disclose Protected Health Information (PHI)

Title of this study: The effects of watching sporting events in relation to alcohol consumption

Researchers: Kaitlyn Wilson

You are being asked to participate in a research study.

Before you agree to take part in this study, Kaitlyn Wilson

or his/her representative will tell you:

 Why the study is being done and what will happen to you if you take part in the study:

The study is being done to examine whether or not watching sporting events has a

correlation to binge drinking in adults over 21 in Duval County, Florida. There are many

sports teams who play in Duval County, so this could be an issue in our community. By

taking part in this study you will be asked a variety of questions about how often you

watch sporting events or if you watch them at all. You will also be asked about your

drinking habits on normal days and on days where sporting events are watched. There

will be several surveys that we ask you take over the course of this study to compare

trends and see if there are certain sporting events or occasions that cause binge drinking
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more than others. This document will explain more about how long this study will be

and the rights you have during it.

 How long you will be in the study:

You will be in this study for approximately 1 year so that we can examine trends

during different sports seasons since we recognize that there are many different

sporting events that can be watched or attended. Things could change depending on

other factors going on in the world during that sports season.

 How many people will be in the study:

Approximately 250 people will take part in this study to get a wide variety of drinking

habits and sports watching habits to examine. This should be a fair amount to examine

considering we are giving out many different surveys and questionnaires throughout

the study for each participant to fill out.

 The possible foreseeable risks, discomforts, and benefits of this research:

Possible risks or discomforts could be alcohol consumption but that is entirely at the

risk of each person. We are not asking any participant to consume alcohol specifically

for this study rather we would like to examine the drinking habits that you would

consider normal. This study is not meant to encourage or discourage drinking habits

and honesty is important in getting the best results for this study. The benefits would

be highlighting the affect sporting events have on drinking habits. If the affect is

negative, then we hope to find a way to change it and if the affect is positive then we

can seek to figure out what the study participants are doing and find out if that can

work for others as well. Hopefully this study will highlight participants drinking habits
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

and if they are not happy with what they see then they can seek the help they need and

if they are satisfied then they can see how they compare to others.

 Alternatives to being in the study:

If you do not feel comfortable participating in a research project that includes alcohol

consumption because you do not drink, then you could be used as a control option in

the study instead. We would still appreciate information from all participants that fall

within our 21 and older age group even if the participant does not consume alcohol.

Consuming or not consuming alcohol are not requirements of this study. Participants

are just expected to be of the age to consume alcohol if they wanted to.

 How your study records will be maintained and who will have access:

All study records with personal information will be seen by myself or one of my head

partner researchers then it will be transferred into anonymous data so that anyone else

who is working on the study will see any personal information. The only access

anyone else working on the study would have would be to information that has been

censored or made anonymous. All information will be protected by passwords or

locked away and only authorized personnel will have access. When the study results

come out all participants involved will remain anonymous and no personal identifying

features will be given out.

 If it will cost you anything to take part in this study:

The study will not cost any value to you. Other researchers and I will provide all

surveys and questionnaires that will need to be taken via email or mail and we will

expect it emailed or mailed back to us at no cost to you. If neither of the options work
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

for you then we will talk about a method that will work that will not cost any

participant any money.

 When or if you may be told about new findings which may affect your willingness to

keep taking part in this study:

Should we find anything that could cause you to no longer want to participate we

would tell you immediately. This study is voluntary, and you may drop out if you feel

uncomfortable, however, we would prefer you to finish the study and then determine

whether or not you would like us to use your results in the study. We do not anticipate

any reasons would come up that would cause any participant to feel the need to drop

out, but if the issue does arise then we will inform all participants immediately either

by email, mail, or phone call.

If you agree to participate in this study, you will be given a signed copy of this document.

You may contact Kaitlyn Wilson at (888) 888-8888 at any time if you have questions about the

research or if you think that you have been hurt by the research.

You may contact the Institutional Review Board at the University of Mid-Florida Health Science

Center at (999) 999-9999 if you have questions about your rights as a research subject or what to

do if you are injured.

You may choose not to be in this study or you may quit being in the study at any time and there

will be no penalty and no loss of any benefits you are entitled to.

If you agree to participate in this study, Kaitlyn Wilson will create, collect, and use private

information about you and your health. This information is called protected health information or

PHI. In order to do this, the Principal Investigator needs your authorization.

More specifically, the following information may be collected, used, and shared with others:
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EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

 Your gender

 Your age

 Your drinking habits

 Medical outcomes you have received because of your drinking habits

This information will be stored in locked filing cabinets or in secure computer servers with security

passwords.

Your PHI may be collected, used, and shared with others for the following study-related

purpose(s):

 To determine if certain genders or age groups are more likely to binge drink while

watching a sporting event.

 To determine if age or gender has an effect on watching sporting events.

 To determine health detriments that come from abusing alcohol.

 To determine if watching sporting events correlates to alcohol consumption.

Once this information is collected, it becomes part of the research record for this study.

Only certain people have the legal right to collect, use and share your research records, and they

will protect the privacy and security of these records to the extent the law allows. These people

include:

 the study Principal Investigator, and research staff associated with this project.

 other professionals at the University that provide study-related treatment or procedures

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 University of Mid-Florida Institutional Review Board (IRB; an IRB is a group of people

who are responsible for looking after the rights and welfare of people taking part in

research).

Your PHI may be shared with:

 Sponsor

 United States and foreign governmental agencies who are responsible for overseeing

research, such as the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Health and Human

Services, and the Office of Human Research Protections

 Government agencies who are responsible for overseeing public health concerns such as

the Centers for Disease Control and federal, state and local health departments

Otherwise, your research records will not be released without your permission unless required by

law or a court order. It is possible that once this information is shared with authorized persons, it

could be shared by the persons or agencies who receive it and it would no longer be protected by

the federal medical privacy law.

Your PHI will be used and shared with others until the end of the study (or alternative).

Once this research study is completed, any information that could identify you might be removed

from any identifiable private information or identifiable biospecimens collected and that, after such

removal, the information or biospecimens could be used for future research studies or distributed to

another investigator for future research studies without additional informed consent from you or

your legally authorized representative.

You are not required to sign this consent and authorization to allow researchers to collect, use and

share your PHI. Your refusal to sign will not affect your treatment, payment, enrollment, or
29
EXAMINATION OF ALCOHOL ABUSE WHILE WATCHING SPORTS

eligibility for any benefits outside this research study. However, you cannot participate in this

research unless you sign this consent and authorization.

You have the right to review and copy your protected health information. However, we can make

this available only after the study is finished.

You can revoke your authorization at any time before, during, or after your participation in this

study. If you revoke it, no new information will be collected about you, but information that was

already collected may still be used and shared with others if the researchers have relied on it to

complete the research. You can revoke your authorization by giving a written request with your

signature on it to the Principal Investigator.

Signing this document means that the research study, including the above information, has been

described to you orally and/or that you have read this document, and you voluntarily agree to

take part.

________________________________ ______________

Signature of Person Obtaining Consent Date

________________________________ ______________

Consent and Authorization of Patient Date

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Appendix E

Budget for 2 years

Personnel Salary Benefits % time Total

Head Researcher 35,000 Head researcher 100% 70,000
@ 2 years
Co-Researcher @ 35,000 Head researcher 100% 70,000
2 years
Analysis 30,000 Help analyze 17% 10,000
Technician @ 4 results
months
Graduate Student 25,000 Help conduct 100% 25,000
@ 1 year surveys
Equipment and
Supplies
Computers Administer and 100% 7,000
analyze surveys
Software’s Create datasets 100% 1,000
and analyze data
Travel
To the research To the building 100% 500
building not daily
Other costs
Mailing or phone Calling or mailing 50% 2,000
costs @ 1 year participants
surveys
Total Direct Costs 185,500
Total Indirect
Costs
177,500 @ rate of 85,200
48%
Total Requested 270,700
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Research Timeline

2021 2022 2023

Ju Ju Au Sep Oc No De Ja Fe Ma Ap Ma Ju Ju Au Sep Oc De Fe Ma Ap Ma
Activity n l g t t v c n b r r y n l g t t
Nov
c
Jan
b r r y
Define study x x
question
Develop surveys x x
and questionnaires
Ethics review x x
Recruit voluntary x
participants
Collect Data (all x x x x x x x x x x x x x
sports seasons)
Enter data and x
create codebook
and dataset
Clean and analyze x x x
data collected
Create figures and x
tables
Write up results x
Confirm or reject x
hypothesis
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Appendix F

Map of Duval County, Florida