Majority of the college students, think that now that they have more freedom, they are able to do whatever they feel like including binge drinking to feel like a true adult. “Researcher Henry Wechsler says that the study, which appeared in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), found that 50 percent of male students and 39 percent of female students are binge drinkers” (College Students as Binge Drinkers, 1995). When college students attend parties, they end up drinking excessively, but most of the time there are no reasons behind this social endeavor. There may be some college students that think they have had enough to drink, but when they see their other friends pick up another cup, they automatically have the instinct themselves to grab something else to drink. Peer Pressure is the number one factor for college students to binge drink.
Alcohol and Substance Abuse in College It comes as no surprise that binge drinking and substance abuse are easily connected to college students in the United States. According to the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, “almost half of college student drinkers partake in heavy episodic consumption” which is defined as consuming five or more drinks in a row for men, and four or more drinks for women in a single outing. Are colleges really doing enough to discourage the problem of heavy drinking in the student body? A study published online in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research says that colleges can do more to fight the alcohol-loving culture in students. The study points out failures in the colleges' attempts to drive
Today’s report, the centers second on the subject, involved a survey of 2,000 students and 400 administrators as well as 6 national studies. The center found that “the situation on America’s campuses has deteriorated” since 1993 when it underwent its first study. In the year 2002, approximately sixty-nine percent of college students drank alcohol in the past month compared to sixty percent of their non-enrolled college peers. Five percent of college students drank alcohol daily compared to four percent of their non-enrolled peers. College students are much more likely to engage in binge drinking than non-college students.
As stated in the textbook, Sociology Now, “Around thirty-one percent of college students qualify for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and over six percent of students for a diagnosis of alcohol dependency”. Many of the problems with alcohol abuse on college campuses in America is due to the institution of binge drinking at parties as well as “kick-backs”. Kick-backs are a smaller and more toned down party, that usuallyjust consists of close friends. Binge drinking is the consumption of large amounts of alcohol in a short amount of time; it is defined as consuming five or more drinks in a row for males and four or more drinks for females (Kimmel). Due to this widespread phenomenon of binge drinking, American college students spend an average of over 5.5 billion dollars a year on alcohol.
Alcohol tends to make you lazy and makes you show a loss of interest in your school work and extra curricular activities. Alcohol causes alterations in the brain. The human brain doesn’t stop developing until mid 20’s.Alcohol can effect your memory and slow down your reflexes. Depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder all go hand and hand with the consumption of alcohol. From the ages thirteen to twenty-one, you have lots to learn and changes you will face and you don’t want alcohol to be a factor in your decision making.
The quote came from a study taken during finals week at a college. “The fact that the drop in performance was largest for the highest-performing students, the researchers wrote,” “suggests that the negative consequences of alcohol consumption are not limited to a small fraction of users or even to those who might naturally struggle with academics.”( Daily Princetonian Staff) This is proving that alcohol will negatively affect academic performance in everyone. It is not limited to lower performing students. “Both anecdotal and scientific evidence suggest that student drinking is tied to poor academic outcomes such as missing class, getting behind in school work, and receiving low grades.” (Dowdall 50) Not all students go to college to party. College is an investment in someone’s future.
According to CDC.gov one in six adults binge drinks about four times per month and consumes roughly eight drinks per binge. Also about 90% of the alcohol consumed by youth under the age of twenty-one in the United States is in the form of binge drinking. This is not because the under twenty-one year olds are less responsible but because the drinking is being done outside of the bars, clubs, and restaurants where there is no one to cut you
This makes them want to be a rebel and try out what it is they are being kept away from. The fact that they don’t know when they will be able to drink again is the reason most college students tend to get overly drunk when they get a chance which can lead to many serious problems such as death. Keeping the drinking age at 21 sends the wrong message that alcohol represents maturity, which leads teens to want to drink alcohol to appear more mature. If the drinking age was lowered there would be no peer pressure to drink, and young adults could learn how to handle alcohol responsibly at home from their parents. Another reason the drinking age should be lowered is because in the United States you are considered a legal adult at 18.
The 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that among high school students, during the past 30 days 39% drank some amount of alcohol, 22% binge drank, 8% drove after drinking alcohol and 24% rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol. Even though it was an American survey the results are still compelling. In 2008, around one in six Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over 17% drank at chronic risky/high risk levels. The impacts on underage drinkers are
Review of the Literature Several studies have been conducted examining the effects of caffeine consumption with alcohol among college students. In the article Caffeinated Cocktails: Energy Drink Consumption, High-risk Drinking, and Alcohol-related Consequences among College Students, a study was conducted to examine the relationship between energy drink use, high-risk drinking behavior, and alcohol related consequences. In this study 4,271 undergraduate college students from 10 different universities in North Carolina were asked to complete an online based survey on alcohol use and other risk behaviors. Within that large group of students who took the survey online 4,237 of them answered the questions about the past 30 days drinking and consuming energy drinks with alcohol, while majority of them claiming to be females. The age range for the students was between 17-30 years of age with an average of 20.4.