ALCOHOL USE PATTERNS

From magazines to billboards to television, alcohol is one of the most heavily advertised consumer products in the country.  You cannot watch television, listen to the radio, or read a newspaper without being encouraged to buy a particular brand of beer, wine, or liquor.  The advertisements create a warm aura about the nature of alcohol use.  The implications are clear: alcohol use will bring you good times, handsome men or seductive women, exotic settings, and a chance to forget the hassles of hard work and study.

With the many pressures to drink, it’s not surprising that most adults drink alcoholic beverages.  Two-thirds of all American adults are classified as drinkers.  Yet one in three adults does not drink.  In the college environment, where surveys indicate that 85% to 90% of all students drink, it’s difficult fro many students to imagine that every third adult is an abstainer.  Although many college students assume that drinking is a natural part of their social life, others are making alternative choices.

Alcohol consumption figures are reported in many different ways, depending on the researchers’ criteria.  Various sources support the contention that about one-third of adults 18 years of age and older are abstainers, about one-third are light drinkers, and one-third are moderate-to-heavy drinkers.  As single category, heavy drinkers make up about 10% of the adult drinking population.  Students who drink in college tend to classify themselves as light-to-moderate drinkers.  It comes as shock to students, though, when they read the criteria for each drinking classification.

Moderate drinking Refined

Alcohol research and health defines moderate drinking as no more than two drinks each day for most men and one drink each day for women.  A drink is defined as one 12-ounce regular beer, 5 ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounce 80 proof distilled spirits.  These cutoff levels are based on the amount of alcohol that can be consumed without causing problems, either for the drinker or society.  (The gender difference is due primarily to the higher percentage of body fat in women and to the lower amount of an essential stomach enzyme in women.)  elderly people are limited to no more than one drink each day, again due to a higher percentage of body fat.

These consumption levels are applicable to most people.  Indeed, people who plan to drive, women who are pregnant, people recovering from alcohol addiction, people under age 21, people taking medications, and those with existing medical concerns should not consume alcohol.  Additionally, although some studies have shown that low levels of alcohol consumption may have minor psychological and cardiovascular benefits, nondrinkers are not advised to start drinking.

Binge Drinking

Alcohol abuse by college students usually takes place through binge drinking.  This practice refers to the consumption of five drinks in a row, at least once during the previous 2-week period.  College students who fit the category of “heavy period” rarely consume small amounts of alcohol each day but instead binge on alcohol 1 or 2 nights a week.  Some students openly admit that they plan to “get really drunk” on the weekend.  They plan to binge drink.

Binge drinking can be dangerous.  Drunk driving, physical violence, property destruction, date rape, police arrest, and lowered academic performance are all closely associated with binge drinking.  The direct correlation between the amount of alcohol consumed and lowered academic performance results in impaired memory, verbal skills deficiencies, and altered perceptions.  Frequently, the social costs for binge drinking are very high, especially when intoxicated people demonstrate their level of immaturity.  How common is binge drinking on your campus?

In response to the personal dangers and campus trauma associated with the binge drinking, colleges and universities are fighting back.  Some colleges are conducting local alcohol education campaigns that feature innovative posters and materials displayed on campus.  In the future, expect to see increasing efforts to reduce binge drinking on your campus to make it a safer environment.

For many students who drink, the college years are a time when they will drink more heavily than at any other time in their life.  Some will suffer serious consequences as a result.  These years will also mark the entry into a lifetime pf problem drinking for some.