Heavy Drinking in College Students: Who Is at Risk and What Is Being Done About It?

Abstract

Problem drinking and related consequences are a major social issue plaguing college campuses across the United States. Each year, alcohol is responsible for fatalities, assaults, serious injuries, and arrests that occur among college students. The authors review and discuss the risk factors, drinking patterns, and consequences that are relevant to the general student population. In addition, the authors highlight individuals at an increased risk of experiencing alcohol-related problems, such as Greek-letter social organization members and student athletes. The authors also discuss the interventions that attempt to reduce risky drinking and related problems in these subgroups as well as the future directions for research. Keywordsalcohol; college drinking; high-risk drinking COLLEGE STUDENT HEAVY DRINKING and alcohol-related consequences are major social problems in the United States (Perkins, 2002; Wechsler, Dowdall, Maenner, GledhillHoyt, & Lee, 1998). Twenty years of research has revealed that the highest proportion of heavy drinkers and individuals with diagnosable alcohol-use disorders and multiple substance dependencies are in the age range encompassing over 90% of all enrolled college students, the majority of these individuals being between the ages of 18 and 21 (Grant, 1997;O'Malley & Johnston, 2002). Alcohol drinkers are more likely to have been insulted by others; been confronted with unwanted sexual advances; been a victim of date rape or sexual assault; been in a serious argument or quarrel; been pushed, hit, or assaulted; had their property damaged; been in a situation where they had unplanned sexual activity; put themselves in situations where they were more susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV; been injured or had life-threatening experiences; driven while intoxicated, or ridden in a car with an intoxicated driver (Abbey, 2002;Cooper, 2002;Hingson, Heeren, Zakocs, Kopstein, & Wechsler, 2002). Reports such as the following are not uncommon (Turrisi, Jaccard, Taki, Dunnam, & Grimes, 2001):"My friend had a drinking contest with her boyfriend. They each had five shots of Wild Turkey, two beers, and then started a 'power hour' or 'century'--one shot of beer per minute for 60 minutes. My friend began falling down and looked ill. She laid down to go to sleep and began throwing up for two hours straight. She rolled over and almost choked in her vomit" (anonymous college freshman).Address correspondence to Rob Turrisi, PhD, Prevention Research Center, The Pennsylvania State University, 109 Henderson South Building, University Park, PA 16802; rturrisi@psu.edu (e-mail).. NIH Public AccessAuthor Manuscript J Gen Psychol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2008 February 12. Published in final edited form as:J Gen Psychol. 2006 October ; 133(4): 401-420. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptHeavy drinkers are not the only ones who have experienced adverse consequences. Nondrinking college students have their own stories to tell about how others...

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