College Under Age Drinking

ABSTRACT

Underage drinking and risky alcohol consumption are issues that have garnered a great deal of national and local attention and subsequently many prevention efforts. The consumption of alcohol and binge drinking by minors jeopardizes not only their quality of life and academic success, but also places the individual and others at an increased risk for negative outcomes. Much of this attention and effort has been targeted towards college age students. Appropriately so, since according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), approximately eighty percent of college students consume alcohol with more than forty percent reporting engaging in binge drinking at least once during the past 2 weeks from questioning.

This research paper explored one university's effort to address the issues of underage drinking and binge drinking among its first-year students who were under the age of twenty-one. As part of a multi-faceted alcohol prevention campaign, a public university began requiring that all first-year students under the age of twenty-one complete AlcoholEdu, a population level, web-based alcohol education campaign, before beginning their initial Fall semester. This study examined how the AlcoholEdu campaign impacted the consumption of alcohol and binge drinking behavior of first-year students thirty to forty-five days after course completion and again the following Spring semester.

Overall, there was not a statistically significant decrease in average number of alcoholic drinks consumed or percentage of students binge drinking post AlcoholEdu or in the following Spring semester. However, post hoc analyses revealed that after completing the AlcoholEdu campaign, first-year students with a history of alcohol consumption decreased or stabilized their use to previous high school drinking levels. Unfortunately, the gains obtained in the Fall semester post AlcoholEdu were no longer evident in the following Spring semester with average number of alcoholic drinks and binge drinking almost doubling among first-year students.

College Under Age Drinking

Introduction

In an ideal world, all students who desire a secondary degree could enter an institution of higher education, pursue an academic program of study, and obtain their initial degree within four to five years. However, during this time span, factors and situations occur that impede a student's attainment of their educational and future career goals. Unfortunately, a large percentage of students do not attain their initial degree or do so in a lengthened timeframe. Only 56% of college freshman complete their initial degree after six years of enrollment and 30% of students drop out of college after their first year. With its easy access and high prevalence, alcohol consumption by minors is a common hindrance to academic success in the parental free monitoring environment of the university.

Making the individual investment of time, energy, and money in attaining a college degree is for naught; if the mental, physical and emotional well-being of an adolescent is compromised due to the easy access of alcohol and tolerance of underage drinking on campus. An individual's ability to capitalize on the university experience acquiring the knowledge and skills needed for employment is weakened in an alcohol ...