Binge Drinking Common on Campus

A study released Monday by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health warns that binge drinking by college students harms non-drinkers as well as drinkers.

According to the survey of 17,592 randomly-selected students on 140 American campuses, 44 percent of college students are binge drinkers.

"The discovery of secondhand bingeing effects uncovers a new call to action," said Katharine C. Lyall, chair of the Harvard School of Public Health college alcohol study advisory board. Lyall spoke at a press conference held Tuesday at the school to announce the survey. The study defined binge drinking for men as drinking five, and for women four or more, drinks in a row at least once in a two-week period.

Although drinking has declined in America overall and binge drinking among high school seniors has dropped by nine percent in the last decade, binge drinking has decreased only 2.6 percent among college students over the last ten years.

The study particularly stressed the negative effects of binge drinking on non-binge drinkers.

At schools where at least half of the students were binge drinkers, 68 percent of non-binge drinkers had had sleep or study interrupted by the practice. At those schools, 26 percent of non-bingeing women had experienced unwanted sexual advances from drinkers during the school year.

Even in low binge-level schools, where less than 37 percent of students engaged in binge drinking, those numbers were, respectively, 42 percent and 15 percent. "We should give the universities support [to counter bingeing] through the [non-bingeing] students who are negatively affected," said Dr. Henry Weschler, a School of Public Health researcher. The survey also uncovered a high rate of drinking and driving. Over a 30-day period, 34 percent of college men drove after drinking alcohol. In the same time span, 24 percent of college women drank and drove.

Such dangerous behavior is closely linked to binge drinking, the study found. Bingeing students, for example, were more than twice as likely to drink and drive.

"Bingeing is the benchmark after which drinking lapses into a drinking lifestyle--drinking to get drunk and dangerous activity," Weschler said.

Lyall called for non-binge drinkers to stand up for their rights.

"Non-bingeing students need to understand that they have the right to demand a better campus environment and immediate intervention when binge drinking impinges on their education, health, and safety," Lyall said.