Empirical evidence has shown that alcohol abuse may negatively affect
to certain cognitive functions. The aim of this paper was to analyze the
relationship between alcohol consumption and certain cognitive abilities
(memory, perception and reasoning) in university students. Two questionnaires
were used to assess the young women addictive profile and
to assess several the subjects’ performance on tasks involving cognitive
skills. A total of 100 women between 18 and 25 years, divided into two
groups following the WHO criteria was involved in the study: consumers
at risk (n = 31) and low-risk users (n = 69). In terms of results, on the
one hand, the consumers at risk group showed a more severe pattern of
consumption in terms of substance, frequency of consumption and rates
of fulfill criteria for abuse. Furthermore, in terms of cognitive abilities
significant differences between groups in abstract reasoning and perception
were found. The results show trends of how alcohol abuse might
affect cognitive functioning in young women. Future studies could
deepen the deficit and bring light into the improvement of preventive
and therapeutic techniques in this field.