By Tony Munroe
BOSTON, Mar 14 (Reuters) -- Despite stepped-up prevention efforts by
universities, the percentage of frequent binge drinkers on American college
campuses rose by 14% between 1993 and 1999, according to a study released on
Tuesday.
A binge drinker was defined as a man who had five or more drinks in a row,
or a woman who had four or more consecutive drinks, at least once in a 2-week
period before completing a questionnaire. Frequent binge drinkers consumed those
amounts at least three times in the previous 2 weeks.
"I really don't know why it's grown, and it's disturbing that it has," said
Dr. Henry Wechsler, director of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston,
Massachusetts, and lead author of the study. "It does show you that education
itself (about the dangers of excessive drinking) doesn't do it," he said.
Researchers surveyed more than 14,000 students at 119 four-year colleges.
The results of the study are published in the March issue of the Journal of
American College Health.
The study found 23% of respondents were frequent binge drinkers in 1999,
compared with 20% in 1993. The overall rate of binge drinkers remained unchanged
from studies in 1993 and 1997, at 44%.
But the study also found continuing evidence of backlash against binge
drinking on campus, with 19% of respondents abstaining from drinking at all --
the same rate as in 1997, but an increase from 15% in 1993.
"Revulsion against the more extreme forms of drinking may be driving some
students away from the drinking scene entirely," Wechsler said.
The study found that the share of students who drank on 10 or more occasions
in the previous month had risen to 22% from 18% in 1993, and the rate of those
who drank to get drunk surged to 47% from 40% in 1993.
Wechsler said campus binge drinking persists in part from the entrenched
tradition of heavy alcohol consumption especially by students in fraternities
and sororities and on athletic teams.
"It is also supported by the high volume supply of cheap alcohol," Wechsler
said, citing off-campus parties where students pay once for an unlimited supply
of keg beer, or bars near campuses selling pitchers of beer.
Many bars encourage heavy alcohol consumption with drink specials, such as
happy hours and ladies' nights, he noted. "At some places, last call means four
pitchers on the table." Frequent binge drinkers consume two thirds of all the
alcohol drunk by college students, and account for the majority of serious
alcohol-related problems on campuses, such as vandalism, drunk driving and
injuries, the report said.
Wechsler said lowering the drinking age to remove the illicit nature of
drinking among young adults is not the answer. He said studies show about 800
deaths a year, and countless more injuries, have been avoided since states
raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 in the 1980s. The solution, he said, is
better and more rational enforcement of existing laws and rules, such as
cracking down on off-campus keg parties. Drinking in fraternity and sorority
houses especially, where 3 out of 4 residents are binge drinkers, must be
addressed, Wechsler added.
He also said universities must be more engaged in the communities that
surround them and must realize that educating students about the dangers of
heavy alcohol use should be an ongoing, not sporadic process.
A related article found that while 97% of administrators at 734 colleges
reported their campuses have general alcohol education programs in place, just
40% have an agreement with community agencies to address underage or excessive
drinking, and only 24% meet regularly with neighborhood groups on the issue.
US Senator Joseph Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who has called on colleges
to crack down on binge drinking, said the study shows "colleges need to get more
aggressive with this problem." He added, "binge drinking is not a harmless rite
of passage, and I think this study proves it."
