Interesting. The study @ucbalumnus includes these environmental factors (page 24)
School size. Students at smaller schools consume greater amounts of alcohol on an average weekly
basis than students at larger schools (Presley et al., 1993, 1995, 1996a, 1996b). This may be partially
explained by the fact that larger schools are likely to have more commuter students who tend to drink
less (see above). Because school characteristics such as size are correlated so closely with other
institutional characteristics, such as public versus private sponsorship, religious affiliation, and
location (rural, small town, suburban, urban), it is difficult to disentangle the influences of these
characteristics.
Location. Alcohol consumption rates in colleges vary by region. It has been consistently shown that
students at schools in the Northeast section of the United States, followed by those in the North
Central region, consume more alcohol and have higher binge drinking rates than students at colleges
in other sections of the country (Presley et al., 1993, 1995, 1996a, 1996b; Wechsler et al., 1994, 1998,
2000b). These regions also have the highest rates of occasional heavy use and annual and 30-day use
among young adults generally (Johnston et al., 2001a, 2001b). There is also anecdotal evidence that
students on rural campuses drink more than students on urban or suburban campuses. The CAS data
show that binge rates of rural/small town campuses are consistently higher than those of
urban/suburban campuses (for example, 49 percent versus 42 percent in 1999), although the
differences are not statistically significant.
– so as far as drinking, there is a greater prevalence of it in smaller, rural schools.