<p>The thing is that, if 64% of the 45% who drink were binge drinkers, then binge drinking among high schoolers ages 14-18 is only 28.8%. Yet, binge drinking percentages at my alma mater and Duke and a bunch of other places is over 50%, and at some places (Penn State and UColorado immediately come to mind, well over 60%). The point being that there is something specifically conducive in these particular college environments that increases binge drinking rates, or alternatively (and I think equally true), they are recruiting future heavy drinkers.</p>
<p>As I’ve said before, binge drinking is a risk for sexual assault, auto accidents, etc., but not directly for future alcoholism. Heavy drinking (2+ drinks a day nearly every day) is. At my alma mater, the heavy drinking rate is higher than the one-month high school binge drinking rate.</p>
<p>mini, do you think there would be less binge drinking if it were legal for college students to drink?</p>
<p>I ask because I am appalled by some of the current drinking customs among kids – especially “pregaming,” which didn’t seem to exist when I was in college, at a time when the drinking age was 18 (and nobody cared if you were 17). Could the fact that kids have to drink in secret be encouraging them to load up on alcohol in a short period of time rather than drinking more slowly over the course of an evening?</p>
<p>“mini, do you think there would be less binge drinking if it were legal for college students to drink?”</p>
<p>no. We actually have data on this question. The higher drinking age has resulted in very significant reductions in drinking among college-age students, much lower rate of alcohol-related traffic accidents, etc. We have side-by-side studies from the early 80s (where one state would have an 18-year-age, and one 21) that indicate the laws work. And we have lots of data showing that some colleges can, and do reduce their binge drinking/heavy drinking rates when they choose to do so. It isn’t rocket science. </p>
<p>The binge-drinking thing, while a signficant concern everywhere, is really a function of a smallish set of colleges and universities that have made decisions not to take action to deal with it.</p>
<p>Are some kids predisposed to becoming binge drinkers, or perhaps choose heavy drinking schools because they want to socialize by binge drinking?</p>
<p>Should parents discourage their kids from applying to certain schools because their sober HS grads will be encouraged to start binge drinking?</p>
<p>This is a question of interest to me, because, for example, there are many aspects of a school like Tulane that seem like a good fit for my daughter, but I worry about the alcohol infused social culture.</p>
<p>“Are some kids predisposed to becoming binge drinkers, or perhaps choose heavy drinking schools because they want to socialize by binge drinking?”</p>
<p>The scientific answer to the first part of your question is a qualified “yes”, in that a later outcome of heavy drinking (i.e. alcoholism) is heavily genetically influenced. (There is also a signficant subset of students in college who are already alcoholics - I roomed with one. But he wasn’t a binge drinking partyer.)</p>
<p>Do students chose heavy drinking schools? Many do. They look for schools with a reputation for “work hard/play hard” (which is a euphemism). As I’ve mentioned before, statistically, schools with higher than average binge drinking rates generally are likely to be rural (or at least suburban), coed, non-religious-affiliated, white, have high levels of spectator sports, students wealthier than average, have fraternities and sororities, non-commuter, and most students between ages of 18-22. </p>
<p>“Should parents discourage their kids from applying to certain schools because their sober HS grads will be encouraged to start binge drinking?”</p>
<p>That’s for each parent to decide. One could simply trust the student to make his/her way wherever they find themselves, though school predisposition is an obvious influence. My larger question is the real impact of high rates of binge/heavy drinking on academic quality - I think there are a whole bunch of top 25 schools that wouldn’t be in the top 25 if this was looked at from the point of view of the students’ experience. When a school graduates 3-4X times as many alcoholics/future alcoholics as it does future doctors, I can’t see how this could NOT have an influence on experienced academic quality. (My younger d. notes these two groups can overlap. ;))</p>
<p>Mini, is there any way to obtain the binge drinking rates of various colleges without asking the admissions office? I’ve not had much luck searching the internet. I think these figures should be widely available.</p>
<p>It would be like cockroaches scurrying across the kitchen floor of a tenement building if USNEWS started including binge drinking rates in the rankings formula. </p>
<p>Heck, think of the possibilities. USNEWS could even have a “predicted binge drinking rate” and award points for overperforming or underperforming relative to the predicted rate.</p>
<p>“Mini, is there any way to obtain the binge drinking rates of various colleges without asking the admissions office? I’ve not had much luck searching the internet. I think these figures should be widely available.”</p>
<p>No. The data agreement with folks who collect the data (under a federal contract) makes the data proprietary. However, (an interesting twist), under federal law, all institutions receiving federal funds have a campus “alcohol and drug coordinator” (often a dean), and they have the data, and the data is supposedly public information. But you have to ask for it.</p>
<p>Nope. You would have to go directly to the Dean’s office to get the information.</p>
<p>Careful searches of the college’s website, especially archives of the student newspaper will often turn up clues. One thing to search for is the frequency of alcohol poisoning hospital transports. All colleges will have an occasional transport, but alcohol poisoning is a recurring theme at some schools.</p>
<p>Another approach is a close reading of the guidebooks. When a guidebook mentions that a school has a “work hard/play hard” social scene, or a heavy greek organization presence, or any of several other “euphemisms”, you can be pretty sure that alcohol is a dominant influence in the campus culture.</p>
<p>BTW, one thing parents can do is help their students understand that college is fun.</p>
<p>It seems that high schools students, lacking any frame of reference, sometimes have a misguided notion that you have to go to a “party school” to have fun and that “non-party schools” are no fun. </p>
<p>Of course, that is not true. I cannot imagine any group of several thousand college age young adults not having “fun”.</p>
<p>Because high school kids can’t really understand college life, there is a tendency to attribute value to a “party school” when the reality is that a majority of these kids would probably be more comfortable in something less than a full-bore binge drinking social scene. To put it in perspective, a “low-binge drinking rate” means that 30% of the students had five drinks on one occasion at least once in the prior two weeks and at least double that number drink. A low-binge drinking rate school would hardly qualify as a Temperance Union chapter!</p>
<p>IMO, parents could do a lot to help their kids calibrate the scale.</p>
<p>I haven’t looked at binge drinking per se. It is heavy drinking rather than binge drinking that is the predictor for future adverse consequences (binge drinking puts one at risk for current alcohol poisoning, sexual assault, motor vehicle accidents. And binge drinking obvious has massive influences on a college’s “atmosphere”.)</p>
<p>Alcoholics (and drug addicts) are often high performers in life until the later stages of addiction kick in. There is no a priori reason to believe that wouldn’t be true at colleges as well.</p>
<p>There are. But, I suspect that the desireability of “drinking 'til you puke” is more a function of peer pressure and cultural norms than an innate characteristic.</p>
<p>That’s one of the big negatives of colleges with high binge drinking rates.</p>
<p>Isn’t it kind of obvious why there are more binge drinkers in college? There is always a large group of kids in high school that would binge drink if given the opportunity. Some of these kids have the opportunity to drink in high school, and they do (the 45% in the article). Some don’t have the opportunity to drink in high school, and then they go to college and finally get the opportunity to drink to their true colors.</p>
<p>And then of course there are kids who never contemplated drinking in high school but suddenly find the opportunity tempting in college.</p>
<p>H and I both have fairly large families with lots of nieces and nephews in the age group 18-26. What we observed at Holiday parties this year (on both sides) is that the non-college students drank much more than the college students. They also have more facial piercings, and apparent lifestyles that are much more conducive to binge drinking and smoking pot. A group of the non-college (Connecticut) cousins were actually smoking pot in the driveway of Grandpa’s house on Christmas Day!</p>
<p>I don’t buy the fact that college students, particularly at certain schools, are more “prone” to party. This is an individual thing, despite what the student surveys may or may not suggest. The biggest drinker at any of the family parties this year was an enlisted military (non-college educated) 23 year old. Following close behind him was a 21 year old female Florida community college cousin attendee, and a 21 year old male Vermont State college attendee. The college cousins who attend some of the elite cc notorious binge drinking schools in our families (BC, Penn, Duke) were the ones not drinking, or drinking sensibly this year at the holiday gatherings . Go figure.</p>
<p>Kids drink to get drunk. I don’t know any high school kids that enjoy a single beer or a glass of wine with a meal. I forced the stuff down in high school (wine mostly, I couldn’t stand beer) and finally learned to drink beer during my sophomore year in college (practice, practice, practice). My trip through Germany after freshman year was disappointing because I couldn’t stand the bitter beer on offer. </p>
<p>I am only saying that I am not suprised at the high rate of binge drinking with young people because that is how you get drunk and that is why they drink. High rates of sex is not necessarily a side effect of binge drinking, but one of the objectives. If anything I am surprised the recorded rates of binge drinking are not higher.</p>
<p>I should introduce you to my D. She occasionally enjoys a glass (well, usually it’s more like half a glass) of wine with dinner, something we’ve allowed her since she was 16. She’s not at all interested in getting drunk, and now that she’s a freshman, has found a number of like-minded friends in college.</p>