Heavy drinking is linked to a higher risk of developing dangerous medical conditions. For example, it can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, liver damage, kidney disease, pancreatic inflammation, brain disorders like dementia, and certain types of arthritis and cancer. It can also be extremely risky to drink a lot of alcohol while consuming other drugs, including prescription medications.

Visits related to combined use of alcohol and other drugs increased 27 percent, from 27,784 cases in 2005 to 38,067 cases in 2009. In 2009, 12 percent of ED visits related to alcohol involved use of alcohol in combination with other drugs (SAMHSA 2011). In summary, in recent years an increasing number of researchers have utilized electronic survey methods to collect college-drinking data.

However, binge drinking is a slippery slope that can lead to an alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, constantly drinking or binge drinking weekly can increase the risk of tolerance, addiction, and dependence. Unfortunately, in 2012, funding cuts led to the dismantling of the federal program that helped colleges with alcohol and drug abuse prevention. NIAAA started a website, CollegeDrinkingPrevention.gov, to raise awareness, but without the support of administrators, faculty, and boards at colleges and universities, government and nonprofit prevention programs and support won’t go far. Beyond the fact that purchasing alcohol can become very costly if you drink frequently, you also have to consider the potential financial consequences of alcohol-related academic problems. Retaking courses or pushing your graduation ahead to a later date than intended could cost you thousands of extra dollars.

College Drinking

Underage consumption is legally allowed in some states—in private or in the presence of parents, teachers, or legal-age spouses. School policies and drinking laws are enforced inconsistently on and around many campuses. Underage students often feel like they aren’t at great risk of getting in trouble since the authorities may be looking the other way. Looking at a longer time period, data from MTF suggest that there have been significant declines in the percentage of college students consuming five or more drinks in the previous 2 weeks, from 44 percent in 1980 to 36 percent in 2011 (Johnston et al. 2012) (see figure 3). This time frame includes the passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which effectively increased the drinking age from 18 to 21 in the United States. In 2002, the NIAAA Task Force on College Drinking turned a national spotlight on this important public health issue.

Data from both NESARC and Harvard CAS remain useful for examining associations between patterns of drinking at college and the frequency and prevalence of alcohol-related consequences for both drinkers and nondrinkers. This article reviews recent research findings about alcohol consumption by today’s college students and the outcomes that follow. It examines what we know about the causes and consequences of excessive drinking among college students relative to their non-college peers and many of the strategies used to collect and analyze relevant data, as well as the inherent hurdles and limitations of such strategies. Approximately 20% of college students meet the medical criteria for having an Alcohol Use Disorder, which includes alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence.

College students with alcoholic parents or a family history of alcoholism are often genetically or psychologically predisposed to alcohol abuse. Awareness of that fact can help you gauge the risk and take steps to prevent a harmful addiction. (The more drinks you have per week, the lower your overall grade point average is likely to be.) About 31 percent of people drop out of college within six years. Further, alcohol might increase the chances that a male will commit a sexual assault by leading them to misinterpret a female’s friendly gestures or flirtation as interest https://sober-house.org/ in sex and by increasing sexual aggression (Abbey 2002). When asked to read a story about a potential date rape involving intoxicated college students, both male and female subjects who are intoxicated were more likely to view the female as sexually aroused and the male as acting appropriately (Abbey et al. 2003). The ultimate goal of the NIAAA’s efforts in college drinking research is to share science-based information in accessible and practical ways to give college administrators, parents, and concerned students a foundation for alcohol intervention activities.

• Alcoholics often experience many of the consequences already listed, but they feel powerless to end their addiction.
• Hospitalizations for overdoses involving other drugs but not alcohol increased 55 percent over the same time period, while those involving alcohol and drugs in combination rose 76 percent.
• Surprisingly, drinking levels have remained relatively stable on and around college campuses over the last 30 years, with roughly two out of five male and female students engaging in excessive, or binge, drinking.
• Two-thirds of these victims had been drinking alcohol around the time of the incidents.

The first 6 weeks of freshman year are a vulnerable time for harmful and underage college drinking as well as for alcohol-related consequences because of student expectations and social pressures at the start of the academic year. Harmful and underage college drinking are significant public health problems, and they exact an enormous toll on the lives of students on campuses across the United States. Many college students attend parties and other social gatherings that involve alcohol. Students may also start engaging in alcohol abuse to deal with life and school stressors. A college student may be tempted to drink more because many campus social activities provide easy access to alcohol. Beyond the physical effects of heavy drinking, college students can also face a number of serious consequences that impact their lives now and long into their future.

Fall Semester—A Time for Parents To Discuss the Risks of College Drinking

While college can lead to stress and feelings of being overwhelmed, it is entirely possible for students to manage that stress effectively. Solutions include prioritizing sleep, meditation and breathing exercises, using planning tools and schedulers, finding mutual aid groups, exercising, practicing yoga, eating well, and finding a creative outlet. Want to find out how much you’re actually spending on alcohol as a college student?

The combined use of alcohol and other drugs peaks in the 18- to 24-year-old age range (McCabe et al. 2006), suggesting that college-aged young adults are at particularly high risk of suffering consequences from alcohol-and-other-drug combinations. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health defines heavy drinking as having five or more drinks on eco sober house cost one occasion at least five times within the past month. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and NIAAA define heavy drinking, or “high-risk drinking,” as having more than eight drinks for women and more than 15 drinks per week for men. An often overlooked protective factor involves the continuing influence of parents during the college years.

What Is Binge Drinking?

At present, evidence suggests that these methods can yield results quite similar to those obtained from traditional survey methods and that response rates might actually be higher. Researchers estimate that 110,000 students aged from 19 to 24 are arrested each year for an alcohol-related offense, such as public drunkenness or driving under the influence. College students can avoid the devastating consequences of alcohol addiction if they are educated about the dangers and warning signs, as well as ways to avoid unhealthy behavior.

However, smaller studies suggest that response rates might be comparable, if not higher, than other approaches. Further, response rates for Web-based surveys can be improved by sending reminders via e-mail (van Gelder et al. 2010). Similar to binge drinking, alcohol abuse may not technically be considered a form of addiction.

Individual and Environmental Contributors to Excessive Drinking

If you or someone you know is experiencing withdrawal, seek immediate medical attention. If you or someone you know is struggling with AUD, reach out for professional help to stop drinking immediately. If it’s your friend, staging an intervention can help before the situation worsens. If a person is showing any of these signs, they should seek immediate medical attention and call 911. Alcohol-related injuries can include cuts, bruises, fractured or broken bones, muscle sprains, concussions, and more serious injuries like ones resulting from an automotive accident.

NIAAA developed  as a one-stop resource for comprehensive research-based information on issues related to alcohol abuse and binge drinking among college students, with online tools for parents, students, administrators and more. Additional national survey data are needed to better estimate the number of alcohol-related assaults. Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 who are in college are more likely, compared to their non-college peers, to drink to excess. This may be due to the wide availability of alcohol around college campuses, increased social pressure to drink, less structured time, inconsistent enforcement of underage drinking on and off campus, and stress related to academics. Students involved in specific social organizations, especially fraternities or sororities, are more likely to drink alcohol and binge drink compared to their peers. One estimate investigating the dramatic rise in heavy alcohol consumption in the United States suggested that 90 percent of people who drink too much, both adolescents and adults, do so through binge drinking.

Data from NSDUH and MTF suggest that roughly 65 percent of college students drink alcohol in a given month (see figure 1 for data from MTF), and Harvard CAS all suggest that a large percentage of college students who drink do so to excess. The Harvard CAS was the first national study of college students to utilize a gender-specific definition of binge drinking (i.e., four or more drinks in an evening for females or five or more for males in the past 2 weeks) to equate the risk of alcohol-related harms (Wechsler et al. 1995). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) utilizes the same four or more/five or more gender-specific measures but specifies a 30-day time period (Chen et al. 2011).

Alcohol use is a major, if informal, aspect of student culture at countless colleges and universities. Measuring the true scope of medical treatment for alcohol overdoses among college students is difficult for several reasons. First, in datasets such as the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) and the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), no college identifiers are included to indicate whether a young person treated for an alcohol overdose is enrolled in college. Many schools do not track or report the number of students treated for an alcohol overdose, and many students drink excessively when away from campus. Further, schools that implement Good Samaritan or Amnesty policies, which allow students to get help for overly intoxicated peers without fear of sanctions, could create the false impression that overdoses are on the rise. For instance, after Cornell University implemented an amnesty policy, they witnessed an increase in calls to residence assistants and 911 for help dealing with an intoxicated friend (Lewis and Marchell 2006).

Does Binge Drinking Lead to Alcohol Use Disorder?

Alcohol overdose can lead to permanent brain damage or death, so a person showing any of these signs requires immediate medical attention. Do not wait for the person to have all the symptoms, and be aware that a person who has passed out can die. Alcohol abuse may also originate from the extreme desire to satisfy oneself through parties and after-exam unwinding activities.