More students are abstaining from drinking alcohol, according to a recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health. Those who do drink tend to do so excessively, however, leading to concerns about binge drinking.
The Harvard study, published in March, surveyed students at 119 four-year colleges and compared responses to determine trends in heavy alcohol use. In particular, the study focused on binge drinking, defined as the consumption of at least five drinks in a row for men or four drinks in a row for women.
Northwestern participated in a similar study of 1,000 NU undergraduate students and 1,000 graduate students during the 2000-01 school year, with results similar to the Harvard study.
The study found that NU students drink less on average than their peers on college campuses nationwide.
NU’s statistics for binge drinking are much closer to the national average. Surveys indicated that 40.9 percent of NU undergraduates reported having five or more drinks in one sitting within the last two weeks, compared with 42 percent nationally.
“(The) trends at the national level and at NU are very similar,” said Kenneth Papineau, director of health education at NU. “A smaller percentage of students are choosing to drink. However, those who drink do so excessively.”
Papineau attributed NU’s low occurrences of alcohol-related problems to structured health services, proper educational strategies and early intervention. But more importantly, Papineau said it is the students who dictate the change.
“On Friday night, no one will be there to tell a student not to drink,” Papineau said. “He can only make the decision on his own.”
Some NU students said binges are commonplace on campus, especially when taking the traditional definition into account.
“The definition of binge drinking is way off,” said Anthony Kuhnz, a Speech freshman. “It happens all the time.”
Speech sophomore Min Xiu Wu echoed this thinking. “The only time one doesn’t binge drink is when (he or she is) alone,” he said.
Binge drinking trends at NU can be difficult to observe because individual cases are not always documented through University Police.
Turner said students are becoming more aware of the harms of binge drinking.
“Students are smarter about (drinking),” he said. “They are willing to call the ambulance if their friend is not feeling well, versus (in the past when) they’d just take off their friends’ shoes and leave them on their bed with the risk of him choking on his own vomit.”
