Binge Drinking on America’s Campuses

Large and small, urban and rural educational institutions are not left unaffected by this growing trend to binge drink. Binge drinking is defined as "the consumption of five or more drinks, in a row, on at least one occasion" (NCADI). Several surveys announce that about 1/3rd of high school seniors and 42 percent of college students binge drink on a regular basis(NCADI). Figures such as these are extremely upsetting because one expects institutions of higher learning to be the breeding ground for new leaders and innovative thinkers. Unfortunately, these statistics only make educational campuses appear, as if, everything is a party, much like National Lampoon's Animal House.

INTRODUCTION College, a place once populated by contemplative students, has experienced an unexpected twist over the past few years: 1,825 deaths, 599,000 injuries, 696,000 assaults, and 97,000 cases of sexual abuse (College Drinking ). These are such drastic numbers, but there is only one reason for all these corrupted acts of society: alcohol. Abusing the privileges of alcohol corrupts students’ mind, intellectually and socially. In 2008, over 80% of United StateS college students have had at least one alcoholic drink in a span of over two weeks (Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2009). 40% of these college students binge drink, having four or more drinks.

Heavy drinking among college students has been a problem and studies have indicated this for several years (Turrisi, Mallett, Mastroleo, & Larimer, 2006). This topic continues to be a crucial subject of study. Hingson, Heeren, Zakocs, Kopstein, and Wechsler (2002) suggest that approximately 1,400 college students between 18 and 24 passed away in 1998 from alcohol related injuries. Hingson et al. found 112,000 arrests among college students aged 18 to 24 in 1999 for alcohol related crimes.

One of the most astounding statistics that we found online was more than 150,000 students a year develop a health related problem caused by alcohol consumption, but the problems don’t stop at illness. Additionally, 1.5 percent of college students admit to attempting suicide within the past year due to binge drinking and drug use. Binge drinking is clearly a problem all over the country at college campuses and needs to be better understood and prevented. We are sending our young people to these establishments to get an education not to drink themselves to death. Our initial hypothesis that there would be an inverse correlation between alcohol consumption and degree rigorousness and validity was

http://www.madd.org/driven/fall00/cover.shtml (14 April 2014) Wechsler, Henry, George Dowdall, Andrea Davenport and William DeJong. “Binge Drinking on Campus”. http://www.edc.org/hec/pubs/binge.htm (14 April 2014) Wilson, Ellen and Dionne Dougall. “National College Alcohol Study Examines Drinking of Students at Colleges That Ban Alcohol”. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas/alcohol/pr04122001.shtml (14 April 2014)

When someone goes to a party they don't get carded, they get a cup. Studies show that students between the ages of 16-21 drink more then those that are over 21. Statistics show that the younger the person the more he or she drinks. Forty one percent of students report to binge drinking, and nearly four percent drink daily. Binge drinking is defined as four drinks for a women in one sitting, and five drinks for a male in one sitting.

According to collegedrinkingprevention.org, 31% of college students fit the criteria for an alcoholic and 25% of all college freshmen drop out of college due to alcohol and drug related problems. I do not believe that dropping out is part... ... middle of paper ... .... 2014. . Herman-Kinny, Nancy J., and David A. Kinny. "Staying “Dry” on a “Wet” campus" Michael Kremer and Dan Levy “Peer Effects and Alcohol Use among College Students” http://www.jstor.org/ web. 2008 Amy M. Wolaver “Does Drinking Affect Grades More For Women?

Drug and alcohol use is not new to the college life. Experimenting with drugs and alcohol comes with consequences. Alcohol and drug violations simply mean that the students do not abide by the policies implemented by the colleges. Approximately 110,000 college students were arrested for alcohol-related violations such as public drunkenness or driving under the influence (College Drinking, 2013). Gallaudet University has 276 drug violations and 5 arrests while the alcohol violations were 213 with 0 arrests.

Some ads a media company will simply refuse to accept (Peart, Karen N). Concerns have been raised about Beer advertising, Cigarette advertising, Sex advertising, Political advertising, and food advertising to children. Alcohol advertising is a primary concern for many Americans who believe that alcohol advertising in media directly influences the frequency of underage drinking. While drinking among youth and young adults has declined over the last six years, a recent study by the Justice Department found that 25% of 15-17 year olds said they drink. Junior and senior high school students drink 35% wine coolers, and consume 1.1 billion cans of beer annually.

Women are considered binge drinkers when they consume four or more drinks in a row. This is a growing problem among college students throughout the country. According to the Harvard study, in 1999, 44 percent of college students were binge drinkers. Results of the survey prove that drinking is the most serious drug problem on college campuses. Henry Wechsler, Ph.D., was the doctor who authored the Harvard study.