After studying 208 unmarried couples and their drinking habits, researchers at Canada's Dalhousie University have discovered that the binge-drinking of one partner in a relationship often transfers to the other partner. Alcohol abuse is a contagious disease.

Given that the participating couples all fit the same criteria—twentysomething, unmarried, heterosexual, either living together or needy (they "have face-to-face contact at least five days a week"), together for at least three months, with at least one partner enrolled in college—it's possible that the researchers' findings don't apply to couples who fall outside those criteria. So if your thirtysomething gay partner's a binge-drinker, and you've also become a binge drinker since starting a relationship with them, your alcohol abuse habit is probably coming from within. However, you should still blame your excessive drinking habit on your partner anyway, if only to perpetuate their feelings of guilt and shame.

[Newswise. Image via Shutterstock]