College Drinking

College Drinking

Introduction

Abusive drinking is particularly associated with college students (Wechsler, et al., 1995). The statistics from this age group are alarming. Approximately 1,700 students die each year from alcohol-related injuries, and 599,000 are injured in alcohol-related accidents (Hingson, Heeren, Zakocs, et al., 2002). Alcohol is a factor in 696,000 assaults and 97,000 sexual assaults on college campuses each year (Hingson, Heeren, Zakocs, et al., 2002). In addition, 400,000 students report engaging in unsafe sexual activity as a direct result of intoxication (Hingson, Heeren, Zakocs, et al., 2002). Approximately 25% of students report adverse academic consequences as a result of alcohol use (Hingson, Heeren, Zakocs, et al., 2002).

Discussion

Patient's Perspective

Students' perceptions of binge drinking and risky behaviors are often skewed from the actual reality of drinking behaviors on college campuses. Most college students do not drink heavily. But many do, and they create problems for themselves, their fellow students, and their colleges and universities, and these institutions should play a role in addressing the problem. While a larger percentage of students do not drinks in comparison to those that do, the students who do drink make a larger impact? As discussed previously, the perception of binge drinking on college campuses can greatly influence whether or not one decides to drink while in college (Lewis, 2007). If teens are experiencing so many negative outcomes from using alcohol, why do they continue to drink? Recent researchers have found that teens are more sensitive to the positive outcomes from using alcohol than to the negative outcomes (Spear, 2000; Spear & Varlinskaya, 2005). It is reasonable to state that most college students are concerned about how they are perceived by others and that self-concept influences their behavior. Markus and Nurius (1986) examined the various definitions of self-concept and suggested that it represents individuals? ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming, in turn providing a conceptual link between cognition and motivation to perform a behavior. That being said, self-concept has been shown to be an important predictor of future behavior. Over two decades ago, Brennan and AuBuchon (1986) completed a comprehensive review of the college alcohol literature; many studies concluded that heavy drinking was related to self-esteem (a core facet of self-concept). The relationship between self-concept and alcohol consumption also was influenced by gender and race. For example, for females and upper-socioeconomic-status (SES) black males (compared to lower-SES black males) self-concept was a stronger predictor of alcohol use. In addition, Quinlan, Jaccard & Blanton (2006) explored a framework defining self-concept mediators in order to predict behavior. Their study of 305 college students suggested that self-concept mediators are associated with negative attributes of both binge drinkers and non-binge drinkers, and are predictive of behavior. These findings were confirmed by Moeller and Crocker (2009) in a study examining the relationship between self-concept goals (i.e., constructing and defending desired self-views), heavy episodic drinking and alcohol problems. They found that self-concept goals were a strong ...