Study indicates many students drink excessively at celebrations
Officials say peer pressure, atmosphere cause binge drinking
By Adam Causey, Contributing Writer
There is something about a combination of football games, holidays and the end of finals week that makes many college students want to get drunk, a study recently revealed.
Michigan State University researchers recently released findings saying students who normally do not consume excessive amounts of alcohol do so when they feel a celebration is in order. It is a trend they called “celebratory drinking.”
Several University students think a similar survey done on campus would reveal the same kind of results.
“It seemed like everyone planned on getting drunk for hurricane parties. When you went to the store, there was no hurricane mix left,” said Martin Spears, a mechanical engineering sophomore.
Environment and peer affiliation are the two most significant factors that influence drinking behavior for college students, said Nancy I. Mathews, executive director of Campus-Community Coalition for Change. Her reasoning is consistent with the MSU study.
CCCC aims to reduce high-risk drinking and the associated negative consequences in the University as well as the greater community.
“Students tend to drink heavily at occasions where their friends drink excessively, believing that immoderate drinking is expected,” Mathews said.
In compliance with CCCC’s mission, Mathews said the solution to the problem of high-risk drinking is to modify the environment and reshape the average expectations students have for their peer groups.
Some students feel University students tend to drink more heavily compared to students elsewhere.
“After a test, study group or any kind of success, it seems like someone around here is ready to go get drunk,” said Lauren Swiney, a business sophomore attending the University as a national exchange student from the University of Northern Colorado.
Other students do not think University students’ alcohol-related behavior is any different from conduct on any other campus.
“Students here drink for birthdays and that type of thing just like anywhere else,” said Kristie Galy, CCCC undergraduate assistant and political science senior.
The MSU results coincide with a nationwide college campus study done by Harvard University in 2001.
According to the Harvard survey, males binge drink when they consume five or more consecutive 12-ounce drinks in a single sitting. Women binge drink when they consume four or more consecutive drinks.
Researchers based the amount of drinks for each gender on the frequency of reported alcohol-related behavior, such as missing class and physical injury.