With the school year in full swing, it's a good time to look at college-age drinking, and specifically binge drinking.
Did you know that according to the National Institutes of Health, Each year an estimated 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes. Further, each year an estimated 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted
by another student who has been drinking. Finally, each year an estimated 97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape.
Nineteen percent of college students between the ages of 18 and 24 met the criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence, but only 5 percent of these students sought treatment for alcohol problems in the year preceding the survey.
What constitutes binge-drinking? Less alcohol than you might expect--Binge
drinking is a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5
drinks for men in about 2 hours. If you have a slight frame, you can reach that much sooner.
Of course, getting college age young adults to recognize binge-drinking as problematic as difficult, even with the sobering statistics above. What seems to work best is targeting individuals who might be at higher risk, working with campuses to change policy and culture, and the community at large enforce underage drinking laws.