|
|
|
|
|
Way Beyond Binge DrinkingA minority of students are consuming two to three times beyond the binge-drinking threshold |
By Sci/Tech News Staff, -
25th of May 2006, 08:48 GMT
Adjust text size:  
|
| |
"College students drink at levels far higher than we expected. We found that roughly 20 percent of all freshmen males had 10 or more drinks at least once during the two-week period. This is twice the binge threshold. Approximately eight percent drank 15 or more drinks, or three times the binge threshold. Clearly, simply dividing students into two categories, binge-drinkers and non-binge drinkers, oversimplifies the problem," said Aaron White, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center.
Binge drinking - consuming large amounts of alcohol in a relatively short period of time - is generally defined as four drinks per occasion for females and five drinks for males. Although using this definition or threshold has provided invaluable insight into college drinking, new research has found that 40 percent of college freshmen, particularly males, drink well beyond the "standard" binge-drinking threshold.
"During the past decade, binge-drinking has been the primary
focus of most research and public discourse about college alcohol use," said White, first author of the study. "We know that when students cross the binge-drinking threshold, the risk of consequences goes up significantly … things like accidents, fights, sexual assaults, blackouts, dying from an overdose, etc. However, one of the unfortunate consequences of this focus on binge drinking is that it sends the unintended message that drinking at any level below the threshold is safe and that all people are at equal risk once they cross the threshold. Clearly this is not the case. There is a huge difference between having four or 40 drinks, although both are defined as binge drinking."
"It appears that highly excessive drinking among this age group is more common in American colleges than colleges in other countries, but other countries - Denmark, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Russia - also have high rates of drinking among youth."
Both White and Tapert were alarmed by the potential consequences of such heavy drinking. "Fifteen drinks is enough to create a very dangerous level of intoxication, yet nearly one out of 10 freshmen males surpassed this threshold in the two weeks before the survey," said White. "In my opinion, we could make additional progress toward reducing the harm that alcohol brings to our campuses by shifting some of our focus away from students drinking at or near the binge threshold, and toward the significant number of students that drink at levels well beyond the binge threshold. My hope is that we could recruit the help of students themselves in this pursuit. It is doubtful that students who drink wisely appreciate the antics of a minority of students that turn into drunken idiots when they go out. Unfortunately, it's the obnoxious students that make for newsworthy stories, thus perpetuating the stereotype that all college students get drunk and act irresponsibly."
White called for greater accountability on the part of the alcohol industry and closer scrutiny of industry marketing tactics. "For example," he said, "the alcohol industry freely suggests in their advertisements that alcohol will enhance the quality of one's life. These ads not only make misleading promises, they also fail to carry the disclaimers that companies hocking other drugs must provide. What about the side effects of the drug - like nausea, vomiting, sedation, poor decision making, problems with vision, and death? Alcohol is more dangerous than many street drugs yet it is advertised like candy. It is time for us to finally start taking this drug seriously."
White added that the alcohol industry brings in an estimated $20 billion in revenue from underage drinkers each year. "In my opinion, if the industry keeps this money, they are knowingly supporting dangerous and illegal drug use by our kids and should be held partially responsible for all of the consequences that follow from it. At the very least, they should extract their costs and reinvest the profit in the fight against underage drinking."
|
|
| Rating: |
|
Good (3.0/5) |
5 vote(s) so far |
|
|
|
|
User opinions: |
 No user comments yet.  Be the first to express your opinion using the form below! |
|
|
