how prevalent are drugs/alcohol?

JenRochester94
Tue, 11 Dec 2012 21:50:53 +0000

Hi, I’m currently a freshman and I’m doing a research paper related to alcohol usage in college. Many students started drinking in college and this behavior is brought on by the drinking peers in college. They project this false notion into college freshmen saying alcohol will make them popular (or gain them a lot of friends). I got this information from this article called Peer influences on college drinking: A review of the research, where the authors Brian Borsari and Kate Carey found out that “Matriculating students seek to establish a peer network that can be a source of support and intimacy and assist transitioning to college by providing role models and social opportunities”. I haven’t gone to any parties so far in this semester so I’m telling my side on this issue from what I’ve heard from people who do go to those parties.
In the college I’m currently attending, I haven’t seen a real alcohol bottle or someone holding an alcohol bottle but alcohol is real and out there on campus. A lot of peers who my friends hang out with are people from our grade. There are people in my hall that drinks and go to parties on the weekend and comes back at 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning.
In my past life, I used to associate parties with cakes and sodas such as Coca-colas, Mountain Dews, or Fanta. College just gave me a new definition of party: a place for dancing and drinking alcoholic beverages. One time, I ate lunch with a group of people who went to a party the night before and they were talking about how happy they felt there and how great it is to have the alcohol in their system because it makes them energetic and euphoric. I became so scared that I started crying all of a sudden. I’ve heard stories about people getting drunk at parties and eventually end up because of the large amount of alcohols in their system in the past, as reported on local news. However, hearing a story about people getting drunk at a party as told by someone at your hall who was among the people who got drunk is a scary experience.
You’re not at home anymore. At home, those stories about alcohol are hidden away and you don’t have to worry about encountering drunken people The college here puts a lot of emphasis on academics so most of the students here study on the weekends. When they graduate from college, a lot of them go to graduate schools and later go on to have successful careers. Though I would definitely say alcohol is prevalent at my school, but you don’t see people holding an alcohol bottle filled with alcohol on campus because the alcohols are hidden away in the dorms or at fraternity houses.