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Drinking among college students
Drinking among college students
Drinking among college students
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Alcoholism Amongst College Students College is a time of trying new things. For the most part, it’s the first time young adults are living off on their own and away from parental guidance. Most of the students can handle this new lifestyle. Some take a while to adjust to the conditions of their new environment. And for others, this new experience can be too much for them. Suddenly they are thrown into close living quarters with people from other areas, even other countries. They’re surrounded by different personalities and different habits. Some of those habits include drugs and drinking. Alcoholism amongst college students is a growing epidemic. I will examine the causes of alcoholism in students and examine the effects it has on health. Alcoholism can be broadly defined as any drinking of alcohol that results in problems. This is why the drinking that takes place in college can be considered alcoholism instead of just binge drinking. Binge drinking in college is actually alcoholism because it leads to many problems. These problems include mental and physical health problems, injury, death, destruction of property, and sexual assault. Studies show that one cause of alcoholism in college students can be due to a family history of alcohol abuse. In a study conducted from 2005-2006 amongst four hundred and eight college students, the students were asked to complete an anonymous survey for course credit over their drinking habits. The study found that there was an overall prevalence of students with drinking problems who have paternal history, the percentage being 65.9%. Students who had no family history of alcoholism had a percentage of 29.1% (Capone and Wood 1). This study does not conclude that all students with drinking probl... ... middle of paper ... ... the dorms at around 2 in the morning after the party was shut down by the unlucky owners of the house. The students are completely belligerent and destructive. The hallways are strewn with food and missing articles of clothing. The bathrooms are covered in a mixture of bodily fluids and dirt that was tracked in from outside. The students are loud and disorderly until they catch word of the resident advisors doing rounds. Then they disappear into dorm rooms, but continue being loud and destructive. Binge drinking and alcoholism takes thousands of lives and maims countless others in college. Its causes can be anything from family history to stress from school. The effects it has are countless. This is a problem all across the world, not just in America. The world has become accustomed to a party culture, which has skewed traditional boundaries regarding alcoholism.
We meet people every day that can have a positive or negative influence on our lives and it is in these people that our lives are defined. One bad choice can send you in a downward spiral that you may not be able to recover from no matter how much help is around you. When it comes to binge drinking colleges are plagued with this growing issue because alcohol is legal and is not regulated the way that some fee that it should be.
Getting Serious About Eradicating Binge Drinking is an informative article by Henry Wechsler. Wechsler has worked with the College Alcohol study since its creation in 1992, and he also lectures at the School of Public Health at Harvard. In his article, Weschler discusses the prominent trend of binge drinking on college campuses and how to solve the widespread problem. Binge drinking is a term used to describe the act drinking alcoholic beverages with the intention of becoming intoxicated over a short period of time.
“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.
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.”
Teenage drinking is something that goes on every day. No matter how many videos you show to kids about drinking they will still drink. Surveys show that the average teen seventeen and up spends $475.00 a year on liquor, mostly beer; that's more than books, soda, coffee, juice and milk combined. Most parents don't know about teenage drinking unless they catch their kids doing it. Parents usually say "oh, my my kid would never do that ", and they're the ones whose kids probably drink more that the average teen. One might ask, how do kids get alcohol? Alcohol is almost as easy to get as a carton of milk, except a teen has to get someone older like a friend, brother or even someone off of the street to purchase it. Another way underage teens get alcohol is a fake I.D. A lot of stores don't care, they just need to ask for an I.D. because they are being watched by security cameras. No matter what city your are in, one in every five stores will sell beer to a minor. If stores stop selling to minors they would lose a lot of business. Looking at the surveys I took at Lincoln on this topic it can been seen what teens think about teenage drinking. The results were shocking! The first Question I asked was "Have you ever drank alcohol?" Of the students surveyed, 16% said no and 84% said yes. The second question was, "How often do you drink?"
Weshler, Henry, and Wuethrich, Bernice. Dying to Drink: Confronting Binge Drinking on college campuses. Chicago: Rodale Inc., 2002. Print.
During the last decades, college drinking, the toll binge drinking which is taking on college campuses. Highly publicized reports have raised public awareness about the high rates of heavy drinking among college students. Also, Wechsler, Nelson and Lee JE, experts of researching the phenomenon of college drinking, have concluded that binge drinking is the most serious public health problem facing US colleges. The State had a controversial discussion about steps that can be taken to take action against the binge drinking that has become part of the so-called
Alcohol consumption is a natural occurrence that happens throughout many people’s lives. One of the easiest gateways to alcohol has been through college. Many can get into the swing of things and find their limits with the stuff, however with others it falls into the more sever category of binge drinking. Binge drinking is the act of drinking more than 4-5 beverages (differing per gender and body weight) in quick succession. This leads to a multitude of things. One of them leads to a dependence on the drink. Suddenly having to buy extreme amounts of alcohol to get drunk or look cool to friends causes many problems with student’s lives. Some of these problems can lead to dangerous situations and permanent problems.
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.
In the past few months I have learned a lot about myself. When the incident first occurred I was very angry. I know plenty of people that drink that are under age and they don’t get caught. I kept asking myself why me? At first I was hesitant to change, but the last few months have been eye opening. I have definitely used this situation to my advantage. There are so many things that I have learned about myself. I have used these last few months to really evaluate my life and set new goals for myself. I think this experience has greatly affected my life in more ways then one. I have done many things to change my life. I have seen changes in my personal life regarding my family and my friends. Many people talk about life changing experiences and how it affects them. I think that my life has changed for the good because of this incident. I’m glad that I have used this negative incident to better my life and to change the fate of my future.
Many scientists have tried to define what Alcoholism is, and what this disease may be rooted from. Some people would argue that alcoholism is simply the over-consumption of alcohol, this statement is only somewhat true. An alcoholic is a person who relies on alcohol as a medium to help him or her deal with physical, emotional, or spiritual needs.
One of the biggest problems with educational institutions in the United States is alcohol abuse among college students. College students across the United States including Georgia Southern University end up missing class, having unprotected sex, damaging property, and getting injured as a result of abusing alcohol. Also the health risks involved with binge or excessive drinking is very prevalent and risky for any college student who chooses to abuse alcohol. Besides alcohol poisoning, there are many cancers and diseases associated with alcohol abuse that ultimately lead to death. Liver cancer, breast cancer, and skin cancer can all be associated with alcohol abuse (Drinking: A Students Guide, 2001). Also heart and liver disease can be associated with alcohol abuse (Drinking: A Students Guide, 2001). Ultimately the over all wellness among Colleges and Universities in the United States drops dramatically when alcohol is abused. The abuse of alcohol among college students has a direct co...
Binge Drinking is an intriguing phenomenon that many college students take part in all across the country. The issue of binge drinking has been a problem on college campuses for decades. Binge drinking has many horrible effects, but the problem starts with the causes for it. If the causes could be controlled then the issue would not get out of hand. Many college students give different causes for their drinking problems, and experts on the subject have their explanations as well. The problem is, while growing through adolescence anything can become an excuse for drinking, such as ¡§its Thursday the day before Friday, we need to drink¡¨ or, ¡§it¡¦s the last Wednesday of the semester, lets get some beer.¡¨
student may not attend class the day after drinking because he or she may be
... Alcoholism is a serious problem in today's society. It is extremely important that the public, including the large groups of users and abusers of alcohol, gain as much knowledge as possible about the symptoms and effects of alcoholism if we ever want to see the reduction of statics involving fatalities, injuries, diseases caused from the use and abuse of alcohol. Education and realization of the effects alcoholism can have on the different aspects of a person's life are the best ways that we can help control the number of alcoholics in the United States.