The rise of binge drinking and its effects on student college communities and their families

An "Animal House" environment may seem exciting to students at first, but nothing affects health, safety, and academic performance more than a culture of excessive drinking. Many of the negative consequences associated with college alcohol abuse affect students who are not drinking—and these are serious consequences:

Get Full Essay Get access to this section to get all help you need with your essay and educational issues. Get Access Binge Drinking in Colleges Essay Sample To most people, binge drinking brings to mind a couple of days of heavily intoxicated drinking.

However, to many physicians, binge drinking is defined as the consumption of five or more drinks in a row on at least one occasion. Some researchers have modified this definition to women to four or more drinks in a row on one occasion. Substance abuse by young adults, especially college students, is totally out of control.

Surveys suggest that over 80 percent of college students drink alcohol, and that percent of college students participate in heavy or binge drinking. College students appear to have higher rates of binge drinking than other young adults, and rates of binge drinking among college students appear to be on the rise.

This has resulted in campus officials searching for solutions.

Therefore, campus presidents have chosen to introduce Alcoholreduce the availability of alcohol, give correct statistics, and build partnerships between colleges and their surrounding communities. Some contributing factors of binge drinking are the targeting of students by the alcohol industries, false or misleading statistics, and the raising of the legal drinking age to Few researchers seem to notice that when the legal drinking age became 21 nationwide, binging by young adults became more common.

For underage drinkers, this style of drinking is encouraged due to the fact they must consume all the alcohol in their possession before going home in fear of getting caught. It is common for people in the 18 to age group to partake in adult choices. Upon turning 18 one can now vote, serve in the armed forces, and many other activities.

It would be best if these young adults drank moderately or not at all. This is due to the fact that campuses and researchers publish misleading statistics about drinking habits of college students.

Several studies have proven that some students over estimate alcohol use among their friends and others on campus, and that this misperception is the reason binge drinking is so highly rated. If students think binge drinking is the usual behavior of their peers, they maybe more likely to engage in this behavior.

Students who believe that more drinking occurs than actually does provide themselves with an excuse for drinking more because everyone is doing it. Another factor that may add to the college setting as a high-risk environment for binge drinking is that young students on college campuses are targeted by heavy marketing of alcoholic beverages.

Student newspapers and campus bulletin boards have ads for many clubs with price reductions and other incentives that promote heavy drinking.

Representatives of the alcohol industry, including producers, whole sellers, and retailers, sponsor campus social, sporting, and cultural events, even on campuses where the majority of students are under the age of Binge drinking has been found to put students at an even greater risk of negative consequences.

Students who binge drink are more likely to damage property, have more trouble with authorities, miss classes, and have hangovers more than those who do not binge drink.

Binge drinkers have been found to engage in more unplanned sexual activity and to forget about safe sex practices more often than non-binge drinking students.

Students who report binge drinking are more likely to drive when intoxicated and to ride as a passenger with an intoxicated driver. Moreover, students living on campuses with high proportions of binge and heavy drinkers experience more incidents of assault and unwanted sexual advances and more often have their studies disturbed or have to take care of a drunken student.

In reaction to the rise in binge drinking, Alcohol was established. A non-profit group called The Century Council started alcohol Over 1, campuses across the nation are currently using the program this fall. It will guide students through a bar, putting them into different drinking situations.

A blood alcohol concentration estimator provides information about how the effects of alcohol, according to gender, weight, food consumption, time and amount of alcohol impacts a persons reactions. Students are then faced with making decisions about different alcohol related situations such as driving drunk, unsafe sex, alcohol overdose, and aggressive behavior.

Other prevention strategies in response to binge drinking by college students include actions to reduce alcohol availability, such as increases in price, and responsible beverage service practices, especially at parties.

Especially troublesome are fraternities and sororities, those locations where underage and intoxicated students are served alcohol. On some campuses, measures to reduce the availability of alcohol in these settings may be unpopular but will be essential in cleaning up this problem.

Some campuses have gone to the extreme of a zero tolerance policy. The best on campus policies cannot succeed if off campus retail outlets continue to serve alcohol to underage or intoxicated students, or if students are shielded from the law enforcement consequences of their behavior.

A Matter of Degree is such an approach. A Matter of Degree is the only national program designed to reduce binge drinking on college campuses. It is a seven-year, ten million dollar initiative in which universities have formed partnerships with their surrounding communities to address the factors that contribute to binge drinking.

Therefore, many universities no longer sale alcohol at sporting events. Many communities have bought out clubs and bars in the local area to attempt to keep the drinking to a minimum. Another approach has concentrated on changing students perceptions about drinking practices and attitudes of their peers.

This misperception is dangerous because when young people go off to college falsely thinking that everybody is drinking and binging, they are more likely to drink and binge in order to fit in.Start studying Exam 3 Developmental Psych umich.

Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Binge Drinking in Colleges Essay Sample. To most people, binge drinking brings to mind a couple of days of heavily intoxicated drinking.

However, to many physicians, binge drinking is defined as the consumption of five or more drinks in a row on at least one occasion. report “binge drinking” on one or more occasion in the past thirty days.1 • Young adults binge drink at almost three times the rate of older adults.

Among survey respondents who consume alcohol, % of those 25 years of age and younger report binge drinking in the last thirty days, compared to % of those 26 years of age and older. Their report appears in a supplement to the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Not only are the people who binge drink putting themselves at risk, but their drinking can have serious consequences for others, Hingson said. While safe social drinking isn’t a problem heavy drinking is on the rise in the United States. Binge drinking, once associated with hard partying college students, is now making its way into mainstream America increasing at alarming rates among middle and upper class adults.

College-bound teens who talk about drinking and its consequences with their mothers may be less likely to suffer the penalties of binge drinking once they get on campus, results of a new study suggest.