Changes in binge drinking and related problems among American college students between 1993 and 1997 - Results of the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study

Author(s): Dowdall, G. W., Maenner, G., GledhillHoyt, J., Lee, H.

Journal/Book: J Amer Coll Health. 1998; 47: 1319 Eighteenth St NW, Washington, DC 20036-1802. Heldref Publications. 57-68.

Abstract: In 1997, the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study resurveyed colleges that participated in a 1993 study. The findings revealed little change in binge drinking: a slight decrease in percentage of binge drinkers and slight increases in percentages of abstainers and frequent binge drinkers. Two of 5 students were binge drinkers (42.7%); 1 in 5 (19.0%) was an abstainer, and I in 5 was a frequent binge drinker (20.7%). As was true in 1993, 4 of 5 residents of fraternities or sororities were binge drinkers (81.1%). Asian students showed a greater increase and White students a greater decrease in binge drinking from 1993 to 1997, compared with all other students. Among students who drank alcohol, increases in frequency of drinking; drunkenness; drinking to get drunk; and alcohol-related problems, including drinking and driving, were reported. Binge drinkers in both 1993 and 1997 were at increased risk of alcohol-related problems, and nonbingers at colleges with high binge drinking rates had increased risks of encountering secondhand effects of binge drinking.

Note: Article Wechsler H, Harvard Univ, Sch Publ Hlth, Dept Hlth & Social Behav, Coll Alcohol Studies, Cambridge,MA 02138 USA

Keyword(s): alcohol and other substance use; binging; college students; correlates of use; VALIDITY; DRINKERS

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