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Binge drinking habits among college students in the US
Binge drinking habits among college students in the US
Alcohol use in society
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The American populous holds misconceptions about drinking. A study conducted by Melissa Lewis in 2004 showed the majority of Americans students believe their peers drink more then they do and that men definitely drink more and drink less responsibly in comparison to women. These misconceptions can be dangerous to the populous as they urge both men and women to drink as much as they perceive their peers to and urge men to drink much more then women; promoting dangerous drinking behaviors, such as binge drinking. This raises the question, do men really binge drink more then women? In 2015 The National Survey on Drug Use and Health surveyed 57,146 people age 12 years and older from all over the US. One of the questions on the survey asked participants
Binge drinking is portrayed as a common activity on college campuses. In reality only 43% of students interviewed from a pool of 14,500 said they had binged in the past two weeks; which is less than a majority. If less than
Many Americans believe that one or two drinks per day is safe and in fact beneficial to their health. Alcohol in moderation does provide some benefit to health such as reduction of risk of heart disease, osteoporosis and diabetes. However, alcohol impairs metabolism, and impacts good health and proper nutrition, (Whitney & Rady-Rolfes, 2016). Flax describes how his experience with alcohol in moderation became, “a slow leak that could have left me empty and alone,” (Flax, 2016, p. 1). Those who drink often use the excuse that alcohol is good for them. However, in his article, Why Drinking a Little Booze Each Day May Be Killing You, author Peter Flax expresses how detrimental even a small intake of alcohol daily can be to a person’s
Gender, age and socioeconomic status are predisposing factors to regular binge drinking, and the burden of alcohol abuse is approximately six times higher in males (World Health Organization, 2003). Charles, Valenti & Miller (2011) discovered in a sample of adults aged 19 years and over, 15% of participants were regular binge drinkers and almost one-third of patients aged 18-24 years were regular binge drinkers. Patients from an English speaking background were twice as likely to binge drink regularly as those from non-English speaking backgrounds (Charles, Valenti, & Miller, 2011). Remote populations were more likely to be binge drinkers than those from major cities or regional areas (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008). The percentage of Australians who reported consuming risky levels of alcohol has increased from 8% in 1995 to 13% in 2004-05 (Teesson et al., 2010). This demonstrates that there has been an increase in the percentage of binge drinking over time, or ...
“80 percent of teen-agers have tried alcohol, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in the top three causes of death among teens: accidents, homicide and suicide” (Underage, CNN.com pg 3). Students may use drinking as a form of socializing, but is it really as good as it seems? The tradition of drinking has developed into a kind of “culture” fixed in every level of the college student environment. Customs handed down through generations of college drinkers reinforce students' expectation that alcohol is a necessary ingredient for social success. These perceptions of drinking are the going to ruin the lives of the students because it will lead to the development alcoholism. College students who drink a lot, while in a college environment, will damage themselves mentally, physically, and socially later in life, because alcohol adversely affects the brain, the liver, and the drinkers behavior.
About one out of five 10th graders and about 1 out of four high school seniors used marijuana in the past month (Facts for Teens, 1). It is the second most popular drug among teens in the US (Encarta, 1). Teens, ages 12-17, that use marijuana weekly are nine times more likely than non-users to experience with illegal drugs and alcohol (Fed. Study, 1). More 13 & 14 year olds are using drugs, fifteen pe...
Dale et al. (2016) reported that there were several typical differences between women in the drinkers and nondrinkers ca...
The United States has the highest binge drinking percentage worldwide, 5,000 people under the age of 21 die each year due to alcohol poisoning. Also, 15.8 % of underage males and 12.4 % of underage females engage in binge drinking. Binge drinking has become a culture in the United
Years ago, the common image of an adolescent drug abuser was a teen trying to escape from reality on illegal substances like cocaine, heroin, or marijuana. Today, there is a great discrepancy between that perception and the reality of who is likely to abuse drugs. A teenage drug abuser might not have to look any further than his or her parent’s medicine chest to ‘score.’ Prescription drug abuse by teens is on the rise. Also, teens are looking to prescription drugs to fulfill different needs other than to feel good or escape the pressures of adulthood. Teens may be just as likely to resort to drugs with ‘speedy’ side effects, like Ritalin to help them study longer, as they are to use prescription painkillers to check out of reality. Pressures on teens are growing, to succeed in sports or to get high grades to get into a good college (Pressures on today’s teens, 2008, theantidrug). Furthermore, because prescriptions drugs are prescribed by doctors they are less likely to be seen as deleterious to teens’ health. A lack of awareness of the problem on the part of teens, parents and society in general, the over-medication of America, and the greater stresses and pressures put upon teens in the modern world have all conspired to create the growing problem of prescription drug abuse by teens.
Secondly, observing people binge drinking was the moist difficult. Because the definition I used for binge drinking was “Drinking 5 or more alcoholic drinks, on the same occasion, on at least 1 day in the past 30 days (NIH),” it was quite difficult to find people drinking that much in only an hour. Furthermore, I could not determine the amount of drinks consumed by those who were already at the bar prior to my arrival. With that being said, I decided to observe people and their surrounding while consuming alcohol and not worry about binge drinking.
Wechsler, Henry and Kuo, Meichun. College Students Define Binge Drinking and Estimate Its Prevalence: Results of a National Survey. EBSCO Publishing 29 Oct. 2000
“When I was 13, my dad started drinking more and more. Every day he would come home from work and have beer, lots of it. I didn’t think much of it at first, but then he started getting more angry and violent. He would shout at my mom and me. It was like my father had gone and been replaced with another guy” says an anonymous kid who lives with an alcoholic parent in “How my dad’s drinking problem almost destroyed my family”. The kid depicts that he is so confused, angry and upset especially when his father got fired for going to work drunk. This is one of many children’s voices who suffers having an alcoholic in their family. Most of them are depressed because alcohol has destroyed their family. This is an addiction that does
"The CBHSQ Report: A Day in the Life of American Adolescents: Substance Use Facts Update." The CBHSQ Report: A Day in the Life of American Adolescents: Substance Use Facts Update. N.p., 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2K13/CBHSQ128/sr128-typical-day-adolescents-2013.htm
Teen Drug Use I once read in an article “Some teens use alcohol or drugs to dull the pain in their lives”. When they are given a choice to take something to make them temporarily feel better, many cannot resist” (Look). The use of drugs will [affect] the everyday lives of many teenagers today. Throughout history, more and more teenagers have turned to the use of drugs to help them through their everyday struggles. Many teens often feel as if they cannot deal with the everyday pain they may be going through.
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
Few people deny the dangers of drug use, while many teens are curious about drugs. They should stay away from drugs because drugs affect our health, lead to academic failure, and jeopardizes safety. Drugs are used from a long period of time in many countries. The concentration of drugs has increased from late 1960’s and 1970’s. Drugs can quickly takeover our lives. Friends and acquaintance have the greatest influence of using drugs during adolescence.