Binge Drinking

High risk drinking, excessive drinking, abusive drinking, problem drinking, heavy episodic drinking - all are the same thing: binge drinking. Binge drinking is commonly defined as a male drinking five or more drinks in a row on one occasion and four or more drinks in a row on one occasion for women. Standard drinks in the United States are defined as 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, and 1.25 ounces of distilled spirits. An occasion is defined as an afternoon, an evening or a morning.

The Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study asked why students chose to binge drink, and answers included to get drunk, the status associated with drinking, the culture of alcohol consumption on campus, peer pressure and academic stress.

Binge drinking often comes under the disguise of "fun and games", like when playing drinking games. Binge drinkers often drink to get drunk, drink in large quantities, drink frequently, and engage in potentially dangerous deadly activities like driving while drunk, starting fights and taking unnecessary risks.

Statistics

Data from several national studies suggest that four in five college-age students drink and about half of the drinkers engage in heavy episodic consumption of alcohol, or binge drinking. The profile of a binge drinker is white, male, a fraternity/sorority member, athlete, and some first year students.

The proportion of students who drink depends on the drinkers housing arrangements. The highest rates are reported among those who live in fraternities and sororities, followed by those who live in campus housing. Students who live off-campus and commuting students drink the least.

Other factors that contribute to binge drinking includes biological/genetic dispositions to alcohol use, personal belief systems and user personality, expectations about the use of alcohol, size of the student body, geographical location of the campus, importance of athletics and availability and price of alcohol in community.

Although most college students drink moderately or abstain, the students who drink the least attend two-year institutions, religious schools, commuter schools and those who attend historically Black colleges and universities.

Binge drinking often begins around the age of thirteen, steadily increases and peaks in young adulthood (18 - 22 years of age) and then decreases.

Consequences

The following consequences of binge drinking were reported in the paper, A call to action: Changing the culture of drinking at US colleges by the National Institute of Health, National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Task Force on College Drinking.

Death: Over 1,400 students ages 18 – 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries including motor vehicle accidents.

Injury: 500,000 students ages 18 -24 are unintentionally injured under the influence of alcohol.

Assault: More than 600,000 students between the ages of 18- 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking.

Unsafe Sex: 400,000 students between 18 -24 have unprotected sex and more than 100,000 reported being too intoxicated to know if they consented to having sex.

Sexual Abuse: More than 70,000 students 18 - 24 are victims of alcohol related sexual assault or date rape.

Academic Problems: 25% report academic consequences of drinking included missing class, falling behind in class assignments, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall.

Health Problems: More than 150,000 students develop an alcohol-related health problem, and 12- 15% of students indicated they tried to commit suicide within the last year due to drinking or drug use.

Drunk Driving: 21 million students between the ages of 18- 24 report driving under the influence.

Vandalism: About 11% of the students said they damaged property while under the influence.

Police Involvement: About 5% of four-year College students are involved with campus police/security as a result of their drinking. An estimated 110,000 students, age 18- 24 are arrested for alcohol related violations such as public drunkenness or DUI.

Alcohol Use/Dependence: 31% of college students met the criteria for diagnosis for alcohol abuse and 6% for alcohol dependence in the last 12 months, according to self reports about drinking.

Responsible Drinkers:

Do not drink and drive.

Do not drink to get drunk.

Drink slowly, with food, and drink non-alcoholic drinks in between alcoholic drinks.

Know their limits and stick to them.

Don't accept drinks when they really don't want one.

Cultivate taste: choose quality over quantity.

Don't drink before playing sports or swimming

Respect the rights of those who choose not to drink.