More College Students Binge Drink Frequently Despite Educational Efforts
Frequent
binge drinking among US college students is rising despite increased efforts
by public health officials and college administrators to curb the trend,
according to the results of an HSPH study announced this week.
The number of binge drinkers has remained the same over the past six years; binge drinkers are defined as men who imbibed five or more drinks in a row or women who drank four or more drinks in a row at least once in the two weeks prior to being surveyed. But the number of frequent binge drinkers--those who do so at least once a week--is up from 19 percent in 1993 to 23 percent in 1999.
"It is a difficult problem," said Henry Wechsler, director of College Alcohol Studies at HSPH, "and it is not going away overnight."
The HSPH College Alcohol Survey (CAS) was first conducted in 1993. The survey coined the phrase "binge drinking" and emerged as the foremost analysis of college students' drinking habits. Researchers followed with surveys in 1997 and 1999. The current results are published in the March issue of the Journal of American College Health.
The CAS survey has brought attention to the repercussions of binge drinking for both the drinkers and their peers. Frequent binge drinkers were nine times more likely to miss a class than were non-binge drinkers; they were five times more likely to have unplanned sex or fail to use contraception. Secondhand effects experienced by members of the college community (regardless of their own drinking behavior) caused by binge drinking included increased likelihood of fighting, of experiencing unwanted sexual advances, and of having their study or sleep interrupted.
On a positive note, more students are abstaining from drinking altogether.
"We have found a polarization effect on campuses that is new," said Wechsler. Nearly 20 percent of students said they abstained from drinking in the past year.
The abstentions may have resulted in part from stepped-up efforts to rein-in drinkers. Most schools have prevention or educational programs to teach students about the pitfalls of drinking, said Wechsler, but few target programs to high-risk groups. Athletes or fraternity and sorority members are more likely to binge drink than their peers, and Wechsler would like to see more programs address these groups specifically and earlier in their academic careers. One half of the college binge drinkers had continued the habit from high school.
Community efforts also play a role. Binge drinking continues in part because alcohol is a cheap, ready source of entertainment. "People don't think of the college scene as surrounded by bars, but I had my eyes opened as I went from college to college," said Wechsler. He found streets lined with bars within walking distance of the campus. The bars compete for the business of a dense market, resulting in dramatically slashed prices. "They drop prices, and the kids get cheap booze," said Wechsler.
He urged college officials to create inexpensive entertainment alternatives.
"Students' recreational agendas are shaped when the price of a binge
is less than the price of going to a movie."
