Alcohol

Research indicates that while alcohol use on campus overall has remained fairly steady on a national level, the nature and extent of drinking that contribute to the overall figures can vary. For instance, data from the Harvard School of Public Health’s College Alcohol Study (CAS) demonstrate increasing polarization of drinkers, with both higher percentages of those abstaining and those frequently engaging in heavy drinking, while percentages of drinkers “in the middle”—either non–heavy drinkers or occasional heavy drinkers—fell. There are also data to indicate that while women lagged behind their male peers for many years with respect to their alcohol intake, they have been catching up, with increased alcohol use.

Examining figures more closely, it is clear that alcohol use from one campus to another can fluctuate considerably, and that regional patterns are also apparent. In particular, Northeast and Midwest campuses demonstrate higher levels of alcohol use compared with other areas of the nation, according to CAS and the Core Institute.

Research has also consistently pointed to particular populations of students tending to use more alcohol than others, namely fraternity and sorority members, athletes, and first year-students. White students also tend to drink more alcohol than Hispanic, American Indian, Asian and Pacific Islander, and African American college students.

All of these trends in alcohol use and the fluctuation of behaviors seen from one campus to another point to the need to carefully measure and examine the drinking behaviors on one’s own campus when embarking upon an effective approach to addressing the problem of college student alcohol abuse. With local data in hand, it is also important to compare individual campus figures with those of other colleges and universities. For this purpose, the CAS, Core Institute, and Monitoring the Future studies are invaluable sources of comparative data.

A deeper examination of the level and dimensions of alcohol abuse on college campuses can be found by reading the Higher Education Center’s publication Alcohol and Other Drugs on Campus—The Scope of the Problem. For more in-depth information on effective approaches to addressing alcohol abuse among college students, explore the Addressing High-Risk Drinking on Campus and Environmental Management sections of this site.