Getting drunk on campus is a common pastime for many college students. Additionally, its misuse is a significant issue in many universities and may result in serious issues with academics, relationships, legal, and health. The term ‘alcohol abuse among college students’ refers to college and university students’ problematic drinking patterns. Authorities in higher education and colleges must accept institutions’ responsibility for students’ drinking habits and commit to fostering a culture of responsible drinking.
Alcohol use is common among college, university, and other post-secondary students. Each student consumed an average of 1.7 drinks per day and 2.8 bouts of binge drinking per month (NIAAA, 2022). In actuality, compared to their non-college counterparts, college students binge drink more often and drive while intoxicated more frequently. The act of consuming an excessive quantity of alcohol quickly is known as binge drinking (Mekonen et al., 2017). Binge drinking is when a man consumes five or more alcoholic drinks in the space of two hours or less and then feels the need to stop. Contrarily, women who binge drink are defined as having four or more drinks in two hours.
Depending on the region and kind of institution, there are different regulations and social norms regarding the legal drinking age. Additionally, within a single institution, certain students may drink extensively while others may not. Drinking is often connected to fraternities in the United States (NIAAA, 2022). College drinking has developed into a ritual that many students see as essential to their higher education experience. Although the age limit varies from nation to nation, the huge number of young students who use alcohol has had a negative impact on colleges. Fraternity or sorority engagement, tension, mood enhancement, and stress management are common reasons for alcohol misuse, but the major driver of alcohol use is the need to blend in with their peers (Martin et al., 2021). Despite having the same amount of drinks, those who are drinking alone were more likely than those who are drinking with others to be seen as suffering from a drinking problem (Hua et al., 2022). The college students believed that drinking in a social setting is less harmful than drinking alone. Male college students have traditionally drunk at greater rates than female students, although this difference has gradually decreased.
College students who drink negatively impact their families, the colleges they attend, and themselves. These outcomes include, among others, murder and assault. About one in four college students, according to the NIAAA (2022), drinking has caused them to skip class or fall behind on their homework. As a result, they have a higher likelihood of doing badly on an exam or assignment than students who sometimes drink. Alcohol and other drugs are often implicated in the majority of college-related sexual assaults. Since alcohol-related attacks are often underreported, the majority of these and other types of assaults go unreported. Other negative effects include attempts at suicide, health issues, injuries, risky sexual activity, and drunk driving, in addition to vandalism, property destruction, and police involvement.
Extreme mood swings, anxiety, and sadness are more likely to occur in college students who consume alcohol frequently. If a person has not eaten, blackouts may occur when large amounts of alcohol are ingested quickly (Pautassi et al., 2020). Blackouts are brief episodes during which a very drunk person has intense or temporary memory loss. Students who drink too much in college could get into dangerous situations before blacking out. Heavy drinkers in college may lack thiamine, often known as vitamin B1, which is necessary for healthy brain function. Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome is a specific neurological condition brought on by thiamine deficiency (Martin et al., 2021). The two characteristics that make up this disease include profound confusion, nerve paralysis, visual problems, and a lack of motor coordination, as well as ongoing learning or memory lapses, severe amnesia, and poor muscle control.
School counseling, stricter enforcement of the law against underage drinking, or a shift in campus culture are all examples of prevention and therapy. One strategy for preventing students from experiencing long-term effects is to provide campus counseling. Another strategy to combat student alcohol misuse is to monitor and prohibit the use of phony IDs on or around campus. Recent data shows that the percentage of college students who had phony IDs rose from roughly 12 percent before joining the institution to about 32 percent by the conclusion of their second year (Welwel et al., 2022). Additionally, according to 51% of students, getting alcohol both on and off campuses is very simple (Martin et al., 2021). Another effective preventive strategy is to promote a campus custom that opposes excessive drinking. The research found that 59 percent of students don’t drink before starting college (NIAAA, 2022). First-semester non-drinkers start drinking at a rate of 44% in a little over a month (Hua et al., 2022). More places and activities without alcohol are needed to fight alcohol misuse, particularly among first-year undergraduates who are not typically drinkers.
Targeting students in high-risk categories like first-years, student-athletes, and required students at the individual level will be a key component of these initiatives. The treatments are intended to alter students’ understanding of, attitudes toward, and actions linked to alcohol so they consume less alcohol, take the lesser risk and suffer fewer negative effects. Individual-level treatments fall under the following categories: education and awareness campaigns, cognitive-behavioral skills-based methods, methods including motivation and feedback, and professional behavioral interventions in healthcare settings.
References
Hua, J., Johnson, A. E., Pino, S., Olson, D., Nguyen, T., Lawson, L., Bedolla, B., & Howell, J. L. (2022). Social Threat Reduces Alcohol Consumption among College Students. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 57(4), 508–512. https://doi.org/10.1093/ALCALC/AGAC001
Martin, K. P., Benca-Bachman, C. E., & Palmer, R. H. C. (2021). Risk for alcohol use/misuse among entering college students: The role of personality and stress. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 13, 100330. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ABREP.2020.100330
Mekonen, T., Fekadu, W., Chane, T., & Bitew, S. (2017). Problematic alcohol use among university students. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 8(MAY), 86. https://doi.org/10.3389/FPSYT.2017.00086/BIBTEX
NIAAA. (2022, June). College Drinking | National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/college-drinking
Pautassi, R. M., Bravo, A. J., Acquas, E., & Pilatti, A. (2020). Editorial: Is Early Onset of Alcohol Use Associated With Later Alcohol Use? Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/FNBEH.2020.00133/FULL
Welwel, M. B., Josue, N., Mushobozi, B. T. A., Kessy, A. A., Mkwama, F. R., Mtweve, A. J., & Mugane, J. J. (2022). The description on the effects of alcoholism in relation to the university students’ academic progression. Indonesian Journal of Social Sciences, 14(1), 52–60. https://doi.org/10.20473/IJSS.V14I1.35222
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