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“The Harvard School of Public Health College
Alcohol Study (CAS) has conducted
4 national surveys involving over 14,000 students at 120 four-year colleges in 40
states in 1993, 1997, 1999, and 2001. The schools and students selected for the
study provide a nationally representative sample. In addition, CAS colleges
with high levels of heavy alcohol use were resurveyed in 2005. CAS has been supported by The Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation.
The CAS has identified binge drinking and the
secondhand effects it produces, the harms binge drinkers inflict on other
students. The study defines binge drinking as the consumption of five or more
drinks in a row for men and four or more for women at least once in the past
two weeks.
The CAS examines key issues in college alcohol
abuse, including the tradition of heavy drinking on college campuses, the role
of fraternities and sororities and athletics, the relationship of state alcohol
control measures and college policies to this behavior, and the role that easy
access to alcohol and low prices play. The study also provides a continuing
look at other high risk behaviors among college students including tobacco and
illicit drug use, unsafe sex, violence and other behavioral, social, and health
problems confronting today's American college students.
CAS researchers have collaborated with researchers
at other institutions, from other countries, and from other disciplines and
have published more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed public health, medical,
social science, educational, and economic journals. These studies are the most
widely cited in the field and have been featured in numerous radio, television
and newspaper reports, including CNN, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, Nightline,
Good Morning America, ESPN, National Public Radio, The New York Times, the
Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the
Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, US News and World Report, Sports Illustrated, and
the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Since the release of the first report in 1994, binge drinking has
captured national media attention and increased public awareness of what the US
Surgeon General called “the most serious public health problem on American
college campuses today.” This
recognition has led to:
- The U.S. Surgeon General's
establishment of a national goal to reduce college binge drinking by 50%
as part of the "Goals for the Nation" for the year 2010;
- The National Institute of
Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) establishment of a Task Force on
College Drinking to make recommendations about the problem;
- NIAAA adoption of the 5/4
definition of binge drinking: where "A ëbinge' is a pattern of
drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 gram
percent or above. For the typical adult, this pattern corresponds to
consuming 5 or more drinks (male), or 4 or more drinks (female), in about
2 hours. Binge drinking is clearly dangerous for the drinker and for
society." "Dr. Ting-Kai Li, Director of NIAAA, indicated that,
"excessive alcohol use by college-aged individuals in the U.S. is a
significant source of harm."
- The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) annual measures of binge drinking in its
state-by-state reports. The annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance
Survey coordinated by the CDC has recommended changing its measure of
binge drinking from a 5-drink standard to a gender-specific measure of 5
drinks for males and 4 drinks for females;
- The World Health Organization
recommendation to use a 5-drink measure for conducting surveillance
research on alcohol use;
- The U.S. Senate (sponsored by
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-DE) and the House of Representatives (sponsored by
Rep. Joseph Kennedy, D-MA) passage of resolutions calling on college
presidents to address college binge drinking;
- Sen. Michael DeWine (R-OH)
and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT)'s introduction of legislation in February 2003
to combat the issue of underage drinking and drug use on college campuses
and universities by encouraging states to work together in creating
statewide coalitions among colleges and surrounding communities.
- A U.S. House of
Representative resolution (sponsored by Rep. Thomas Osborne, R-NE) to
discourage alcohol use by underage students and other young fans by ending
alcohol advertising during radio and television broadcasts of collegiate
sporting events
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