Alcohol Consumption Among Athletes and Non-Athletes
On college campuses, the consumption of alcohol amongst undergraduate college students continues to be a maladaptive college health behavior. The recreational use of alcohol effects the student population and the health of the students who excessively drink alcohol. The issue caused many research studies to focus on the effect of alcohol consumption based on being an athlete and non-athlete. This study is important because it provides college campuses with a perspective on alcohol consumption behavior between athletes and non-athletes. Additionally, students who consume alcohol can affect school environment. For example, previous research has suggested athletes are more likely to consume more alcohol than non-athletes. According to past research a reason is athletes may deal with more pressure preparing for a game and handling school work than non-athletes. Nonetheless, athletes face more peer pressure from team members, coaches, and family members; therefore, consuming alcohol would be a method of relieving stress. The purpose of the study is to identify a behavioral link of alcohol consumption between athletes and non-athletes.
College students who are in athletics are one of the most recognized student organizations on campus that engage in health-risk behaviors (Ward & Gryczynski, 2007). According to Ford (2007), college athletes are at greater risk of engaging in risky activities, such as getting drunk to forget about problems. Many athletes stress over maintaining a balance between academics and a high level of athletic performance. In order to relieve stress athletes consume more alcohol. Furthermore, most athletes assume that alcohol consumption does not effect their ...
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...ey used to conduct the study had questions were participants could have exaggerated their answers. This could have led to a common study limitation known as participation bias. Another limitation could have been due to the sample size for this study. This sample size did not compare to the sample size of previous research. For example, this sample size did not contain many participants who identified themselves as being a member of NCAA sports team.
Even though there is no difference in alcohol consumption among student athletes and non-athletes this study is important. Alcohol consumption is still a problem among college campuses. Many articles target athletes as a health-risk group for alcohol consumption. However, health educators should focus on promoting alcohol prevention programs that target both athlete and non-athlete students equally.
And now it has become a severe problem especially for college students (Forster at el.,2014:1; Hermens at el.,2012:4). The reason for this is that most social interactions now are beer-directed (López-Caneda et al.,2013:464). In this case, students are more likely to have risk-taking behaviours such as binge drinking (López-Caneda et al.,2013:464). As soon as they go into the bars and in a short time, they may get excited and take a large amount of alcohol which is known as binge drinking (López-Caneda et al.,2013:464).
Dr. Pietro Tonino stated that “College athletes are putting themselves at risk for health problems that could persist long after they graduate.” (sciencedaily.com). The college athletes today risk their health when they step onto the court or field for their college, and get little in return. According to sciencedaly.com, there was a study published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine. Researches at Indiana University organized an analysis of two groups of people. One crowd was made up of middle-aged college graduates who played division one sports. The supplemented group comprised of middle-aged college graduates who did not participate in sports. The study showed they were in much poorer physical condition, and agonized from a number of things including depression, fatigue, and sleep disturbances. The non-athletes portrayed much less signs of wear and tear.
College student drunkenness is far from new and neither are college and university efforts to control it. What is new, however, is the potential to make real progress on this age-old problem based on scientific research results. New research-based information about the consequences of high-risk college drinking and how to reduce it can empower colleges and universities, communities, and other interested organizations to take effective action. Hazardous drinking among college students is a widespread problem that occurs on campuses of all sizes and geographic locations. A recent survey of college students conducted by the Harvard University School of Public Health reported that 44 percent of respondents had drunk more than five drinks (four for women) consecutively in the previous two weeks. About 23 percent had had three or more such episodes during that time. The causes of this problem are the fact that students are living by themselves no longer with parents or guardians; they earn their own money; students need to be a part of a group, be accepted; and they have the wrong idea that to feel drunk is “cool.”
...them when they take just one drink of alcohol, even if it is just one shot or one beer, it affect you. Most college student drink to socialize and that is not a good thing to do. When a students, or anyone, drink to be social there are more likely to have more then what they intended. Alcohol will affect the way that students think, feel, act, and socialize with others. Drink is a dangers action to participate in but that is a choice that one needs to make on their own. It is always fun at the time, but at that same time one does not think that they are permanently arming to their bodies. Whether children and teens drink 15,25 or even 30 percent of the alcohol consumed, the reality is that America has an underage drinking epidemic and alcohol is by far the drug most used by children and teens and poses the greatest threat to their well-being” (Underage, CNN.com pg2).
Mantel, B. (2006, August 18). Drinking on campus. CQ Researcher, 16, 649-672. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/
Not only in the US, Many countries around the world have the same problem in college campuses. Like many European countries, college drinking has been developed into kind of traditional culture in the US and she has been facing the change of the culture of drinking at colleges. However, other than the damage and injuries that happen during semester break each year, the only consequences of college drinking that usually come to the public's attention are occasional student deaths from alcohol overuse, such as alcohol poisoning or other alcohol-related tragedies. (Ramaley) In fact, the consequences of college drinking are much more than occasional and normal. According to the studies, 1,825 college students who aged from 18 to24 died from alcohol-related inadvertent injuries, including car crashes, while 599,000 students are unintentionally hurt over the influence of alcohol (Hingson et al., 2009). College drinking also results in serious injuries, assaults, sexual abuse and other health and academic problems. The impacts of excessive college drinking are more widespread and destructive than most people realize. Therefore, this essay will first consider the pr...
We all know what it is like to wake up in the morning, with our head aching, and our body feeling like it was just hit by a train. College students world wide know this feeling. These are the results of binge drinking. The question of why college students continue to submit themselves to alcohol is unknown. While many reasons are given, the cause generally falls into one of three categories, peer pressure, insecurity, or to help solve there problems. But the one thing students don’t realize are the consequences and effects that binge drinking can have, health and social problems are just a few.
Initial analysis revealed the prevalence of heavy alcohol consumption among this student athlete population; with 68.9% of participants scoring +8 on the AUDIT. This is consistent with and adds to the rising body of research regarding the high rates of hazardous drinking behaviours in university sports people (Brenner and Swanik, 2007; Doumas, 2013; Leichliter et al., 1998; Nelson and Wechsler, 2001; Weschler et al., 1997). Furthermore, as predicted, we found greater levels of hazardous drinking in male athletes compared to female athletes. This is in accordance with previous research (O’Brien et al., 2007; Weaver et al., 2013) highlighting the significant gender differences in relation to alcohol consumption and confirms the need to control for this variable. Young and White (2000) suggest that women tend to be more health conscious than men; and therefore it is possible that women drink less due to the negative health consequences associated with heavy alcohol consumption.
Mintel. (2013). Teen athletes more likely to drink, less likely to use drugs. Available: http://academic.mintel.com.atlas.worc.ac.uk/sinatra/oxygen_academic/display/id=687169?highlight. Last accessed 4th January 2014.
“Out of all of the Ncaa athletes, 80% of student-athletes under and over the age of 21 reported alcohol use in 2015” (Hainline). Another example is that 22% of the student athletes were doing marijuana when they got tested before their games or events” (Hainline). Many college athletes do these things to be cool and they think it is okay to get all drugged up. Student athletes at the College level should be smarter than what these facts show because they could be more concerned about their careers in an athletic sport rather than wasting time drinking and doing drugs that are harmful. The Ncaa has a rule that all athletes must be sober for 48hrs before participating in their sport. College athletes under the age of twenty-one should be removed from their athletic team if tested positive for drugs or alcohol.
Binge or excessive drinking is the most serious problem affecting social life, health, and education on college campuses today. Binge or excessive drinking by college students has become a social phenomena in which college students do not acknowledge the health risks that are involved with their excessive drinking habits. Furthermore college students do not know enough about alcohol in general and what exactly it does to the body or they do not pay attention to the information given to them. There needs to be a complete saturation on the campus and surrounding areas, including businesses and the media, expressing how excessive drinking is not attractive and not socially accepted.
According to National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, more than 1,800 college students die from alcohol-related causes every year, while about 800,000 are being assaulted by other students because of drinking. About one in every four college students who binge drink also admit that they have experienced academic problems. Binge drinking is drinking multiple drinks in just a few hours to get drunk. Despite the fact that college drinking has caused many issues, it has not been stopped, yet. In article, “Why Colleges Haven’t Stopped Binge Drinking,” McMurtrie (2014) explains that this issue has not been resolved yet because many people still see alcohol abuse as general issue instead of seeing it an individual behavior. Because colleges
Most people do not realize that alcohol is a drug that claims the lives of youth in college campuses across the world. In my case, it took the encounter with the ORL staff at UCLA for me to come to understanding that I am putting myself and those around me in danger through my risky drinking habits. With hours of self-reflection and the help of a cosmopolitan article called The Deadly Drinking Mistakes Smart Girls Make, I have found that there are several risks associated with alcohol that can put me at a quarrel with death. Even so, drinking does not always need to be deadly, and by keeping in mind the well-being of my fellow bruins and the skills mentioned in the article, I can find a balance between drinking for fun and drinking till death.
In 2008, over 80% of United StateS college students have had at least one alcoholic drink in a span of over two weeks (Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2009). 40% of these college students binge drink, having four or more drinks. This exceeds the rate of other non-college peers. Research suggests
revealed that participation in sports reduced the risk of overall illicit drug use, but particularly during high school; suggesting that this may be a critical period to reduce or prevent the use of drugs through sport.” (Addictive Behaviors.) Being involved helps teens take responsibility and a sense of pride in their activity. Therefore to avoid disappointment and failure adolescents will avoid substances known to have a negative correlation on the activity. One of the items that they may deem harmful includes alcohol since it affects awareness and reaction time. Serious athletes will know to stay away to help maintain their edge and level of fitness. Certainly, participation in extracurricular activities or simply belonging can help decrease teen drinking.