</noinclude>
Many students attending colleges, universities, and other higher education institutions consume alcoholic beverages. The laws and social culture around this practice vary by country and institution type, and within an institution, some students may drink heavily whereas others may not drink at all. In the United States, drinking tends to be particularly associated with fraternities.
Alcohol abuse among college students refers to unhealthy alcohol drinking behaviors by college and university students. While the legal drinking age varies by country, the high amount of underage students that consume alcohol has presented many problems and consequences for universities. The causes of alcohol abuse tend to be peer pressure, fraternity or sorority involvement, and stress. College students who abuse alcohol can suffer from health concerns, poor academic performance or legal consequences. Prevention and treatment include campus counseling, stronger enforcement of underage drinking or changing the campus culture.
Definitions
Binge drinking
Binge drinking occurs when students drink large amounts of alcohol in a relatively short space of time in order to feel the full effects of alcohol consumption. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings a person's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 percent or above. BAC is the measure of alcohol in one's bloodstream; a BAC of 0.08, therefore, means that 0.08% of the bloodstream consists of alcohol. This is usually seen when men consume five or more drinks, and when women consume four or more drinks in a two-hour time period. Factors that can affect a person's BAC include body weight, biological sex, medications, the number of drinks consumed, and the time during which they have been consumed.
Most people younger than age 21 who drink alcohol report binge drinking. The rates of college students binge drinking in the United States have fluctuated for the past years. In college, over 50% of students take part in binge drinking, while 80% of college students report having consumed alcohol during college. Over half of universities' student bodies consist of those under the legal drinking age of 21. Underage drinking is when people below the legal drinking age consume alcohol. This fluctuates for every country: 21 in the United States, 18 in the United Kingdom.
Young adults who participate in binge drinking experience higher rates of physical and sexual assault, and unwanted, unplanned, and unprotected sexual activity. There are also links between heavy alcohol consumption and depression.
The motivations among young students have changed as well. In recent years, more students are drinking with the intended purpose of getting drunk.
Background
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported in 2012, that more than 80% of college students drink alcohol, with estimated 40% report binge drinking in the past two weeks, and about 25% report having academic consequences because of their drinking. 56% of students reported binge drinking once a week. In comparison, the comparable figure of alcoholism for American Indian and Alaskan Native youth is approximately 80 percent.
Individual and environmental factors for experiencing alcohol-related consequences have been identified such as drinking during high-risk periods, such as spring break, or belonging to specific student subgroups (e.g., Greek organizations). Drinking throughout high school also played a role, suggesting that binge drinking starts earlier than college for some.
Causes
Peer pressure
In 2001, there were 1,717 unintentional deaths from the consumption of alcohol or other substances, which raised concerns about the excessive use of alcohol. There are many causes of excessive drinking on college campuses. Many students report they felt peer pressured to consume large amounts of alcohol. Peer pressure may occur in multiple forms. One of the more indirect forms of peer pressure is social modelling. In this method, the more “popular” people from a group could be consuming alcohol, and pressure others to drink in excess to fit in and be part of the larger group.