Binge Drinking and Its Effects On College Campuses

Essay by k_chewlinUniversity, Bachelor's March 2003

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There is a common misconception among college campuses, and that is that "kids will be kids". This implies that college student drink a lot and that it is accepted and most times even expected. The truth of this idea is that kids won't just be kids and that it is not acceptable to drink all the time. Many college kids then engage in what is known as binge drinking. "Binge drinking is defined for men as drinking five or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks, and for women as drinking four or more drinks in a row. 'Frequent' binge drinking was defined as binge drinking three or more times in the past two weeks (Results?1)." To the average college student this definition is absurd. Most of these students can drink five or six drinks and not feel a thing. They have developed what is known as tolerance for alcohol, making it necessary for them to drink more drinks in order to reach the desired effects.

A lot of times binge drinkers have very serious problems. For example, "frequent binge drinkers are seven to sixteen times more likely then non binge drinkers to have missed class, gotten behind in their school work, engaged in unplanned sexual activity, not used protection when having sex, gotten in trouble with campus police, damaged property, or been hurt or injured (Results?1)." These are amazing results, to think that the youth of our nation could be performing so much better in their academic careers if alcohol wasn't an option, is a sad thing. The truth is that alcohol is a large part of the college experience, and social life in general. It is a very rare occasion you will find a party, on any college campus, that does not have alcohol or...