Changes in binge drinking and related problems among American college students between 1993 and 1997. Results of the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study

J Am Coll Health. 1998 Sep;47(2):57-68. doi: 10.1080/07448489809595621.

Abstract

In 1997, the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study resurveyed colleges that participated in a 1993 study. The findings revealed little change in binge drinking: a slight decrease in percentage of binge drinkers and slight increases in percentages of abstainers and frequent binge drinkers. Two of 5 students were binge drinkers (42.7%); 1 in 5 (19.0%) was an abstainer, and 1 in 5 was a frequent binge drinker (20.7%). As was true in 1993, 4 of 5 residents of fraternities or sororities were binge drinkers (81.1%). Asian students showed a greater increase and White students a greater decrease in binge drinking from 1993 to 1997, compared with all other students. Among students who drank alcohol, increases in frequency of drinking; drunkenness; drinking to get drunk; and alcohol-related problems, including drinking and driving, were reported. Binge drinkers in both 1993 and 1997 were at increased risk of alcohol-related problems, and nonbingers at colleges with high binge drinking rates had increased risks of encountering secondhand effects of binge drinking.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Alcohol Drinking / epidemiology*
  • Alcohol Drinking / ethnology
  • Alcohol Drinking / trends*
  • Alcoholic Intoxication / complications*
  • Alcoholic Intoxication / epidemiology*
  • Alcoholic Intoxication / psychology
  • Ethnicity / statistics & numerical data
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Prevalence
  • Public Health / methods
  • Sex Factors
  • Students / statistics & numerical data*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • United States / epidemiology
  • Universities*