Alcohol-induced blackouts are common among college students and represent one of the most serious acute consequences of heavy drinking. A blackout is not the same as “passing out.” During a blackout, a person remains conscious and continues to interact socially but later has partial (fragmentary) or complete (en bloc) gaps in memory for events that occurred while intoxicated. These episodes result from rapid increases in blood alcohol concentration that disrupt the brain’s ability to form new memories. Blackouts are especially concerning because they are strongly associated with injuries, sexual victimization and perpetration, academic problems, risky sexual behavior, and continued heavy drinking.

Despite the significance of blackout drinking, most research has focused primarily on how much students drink—not how they drink. Emerging evidence suggests that the manner of drinking—such as the speed of consumption and the rate at which alcohol levels rise—may be a critical but underexamined driver of blackouts.

The overall goal of the current study is to greatly extend the field by using objective transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) biosensors to increase our understanding of why alcohol-induced blackouts occur (en bloc and fragmentary) and their relationships with other harmful consequences. Unlike self-report, which can be unreliable during heavy drinking episodes, these wearable sensors continuously capture alcohol levels and patterns of rise and decline. By combining biosensor data with brief, real-time smartphone surveys, we will examine how specific drinking trajectories predict blackout type and how blackouts relate to other harmful consequences.

Focusing on heavy-drinking young adults ages 18–23 with a history of blackouts, this research integrates objective measurement with theory-driven risk models to inform more precise and effective prevention strategies.