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Follow-Up Study of College Drinking Released
A report recently issued by Henry Wechsler, lecturer in the
Department of Health and Social Behavior, shows that there has been little
reduction in binge drinking on college campuses despite increased
attention from the media and alcohol-education efforts by college
comunities.
In 1993, Wechsler and colleagues released the College Health Alcohol Study. This study, based on anonymous surveys returned by college students from 116 colleges in 39 states, is the preeminent study of college alcohol use and brought to the mainstream the term "binge drinking." Binge drinking is defined by Wechsler as the consumption of five drinks in a row for men and four consecutive drinks for women. The 1993 findings showed that an alarming 44% of surveyed students reported being binge drinkers.
Last week, a follow-up report was issued, to be published in the September issue of the Journal of American College Health. This report, titled "Changes in Binge Drinking and Related Problems Among American College Students Between 1993 and 1997," shows that binge drinking continues largely unabated on college campuses. "There was a small drop in binge drinking between 1993 and 1997," said Wechsler, "due mainly to an increase in the number of students who do not drink at all. However, this has been more than offset by the increased intensity of drinking among those who do drink: more drinking to get drunk, more frequent drunkenness, and more alcohol-related problems such as drinking and driving."
The 1997 results show that two of five students, 42.7%, were reported to be binge drinkers, a slight decrease from 44% in 1993. Half of that group, 20.7%, were frequent binge drinkers, compared to 19.5% in 1993. Significantly more students, 19%, abstained from drinking in the recent study as compared to the 15.6% of nondrinkers in 1993.
Wechsler refers to this as a polarization of alcohol use on campus: the binge drinkers are increasingly reporting that they "drink to get drunk," while the number of abstainers has increased enough to produce the slight reduction in overall reported binge drinking. "Abstainers may be responding to alcohol education efforts," said Wechsler. "Or they may simply be repulsed by the binge drinking way of life."
Problems associated with the "binge drinking way of life" were ascertained by asking students if alcohol had made them do something they later regretted, if drinking led them to get behind in their schoolwork, if they have driven after drinking, if they have engaged in unplanned sexual activity, and other questions. In the 1997 report, one in five students reported experiencing five or more of these alcohol-related problems, an increase of 22 percent since 1993.
The secondhand effects of binge drinking also continue to be a matter of concern. These are the effects experienced by non-binge-drinking students because of the presence of the binge drinkers, and include being insulted or humiliated, being the victim of physical or sexual violence, and having sleep or studying interrupted. Four out of five students who live on campus and who were not binge drinkers reported experiencing at least one secondhand effect of binge drinking.
Wechsler expressed disappointment that the results showed so
little change in the drinking habits of college students. "There are
traditions and institutions of drinking on our campuses," he said. "If colleges
are to have an impact on their alcohol problems, they must
drastically change this way of life."
Appearing at a September 10 press
conference to announce the results of the study on binge
drinking were lead author Henry Wechsler (left);
Daniel Meade (center), a senior at George-town
University who described his own binge-drinking
experiences; and Lindsay Hayes (right), a student
government activist on alcohol issues at Boston
College until her graduation last May.
For further information on the College Alcohol Study, see:
National College Alcohol Study
Finds College Binge Drinking Largely Unabated, Four Years Later
-- press release of September 10, 1998. See also: audio coverage of the
press conference and the
full text of the
report.
