Study: Rich Old People Really Know How to Party

A study published in the BMJ on Thursday found that wealthy, educated, high-functioning baby boomers aren’t so far behind college students when it comes to drinking their faces off.

According to NPR:

The team analyzed data from the English Longitudinal Survey of Aging from 2010 to 2011, which looked at roughly 9,000 adults 50 years or older living independently. It asked how much spirits, wine and beer people drank every week. Participants were also asked to provide information on their income, educational level, self-reported health, marital status and other factors.

The data was then compared with British drinking guidelines, which recommends that men drink no more than 21 units of alcohol per week (a unit is about equivalent to a shot, or half a glass of wine/beer) and women no more than 14. Healthy, active, high-earning adults over 50 from the survey were found to be drinking more than twice that amount.

NPR found this data to be consistent with CDC reports on U.S. drinking patterns, which found binge drinking to be common in college-educated households with over $75,000 in income. The CDC also reported that adults 65 and over report binge drinking on an average of five to six times a month.