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Emma Noles
English 102
Adam Hoffman
14 April 2015
The Abusive Drinking Habits of College Students
For many students today, college is not just a place for school and work, but also a place
to witness and participate in a constant stream of parties and large social experiences. The
expectation of the college student, set by their peers, is to go to class Monday through Thursday
with the intention of going out and consuming alcohol three nights of the week, Thursday
through Saturday- at the very least. Parties present an atmosphere that enable abusive alcohol
tendencies and the act of binge drinking, or consuming multiple drinks in one setting. College
students across the country are at risk more than ever to be put in a dangerous situation due to the
overwhelming alcohol presence and binge drinking epidemic. Binge drinking and the excessive
alcohol consumption is a serious problem that will not only have long term affects, but also has
immediate affects such as alcohol poisoning, dangerous sexual situations, and negative affects on
academics. Alcohol use is a serious complication in college campuses because of the
implications it causes in the short and long term, mental health problems, and students being
unaware of standard drink sizes.
Among the college sphere, a majority of students participate in social situations where the
heavy consumption of alcohol is present, causing problems in that moment and in the foreseeable
future. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention explains that, The National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that
brings a persons blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to .08 grams or above. This typically

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happens when men consume 5 or more drinks, and when women consume 4 or more drinks, in
about 2 hours. Most college students could attest that those four or five drinks would most likely
be consumed in even less than two hours. When the blood alcohol concentration is raised so
quickly in a person, the body isnt given enough time to process them all, so a lot of times what
happens is- that person would then continue to drink in order to feel the effects of alcohol,
becoming drunk extremely quick. This effect of getting drunk and feeling heavily intoxicated is
the number one reason college students drink, which just shows the maturity level. Plenty of
students get excited to drink to get drunk and then go out making that their vocation, often
times with one or more friends feeling the same way and supporting the act. The problem here
arises when a person becomes intoxicated, but is out at a party or event and thus continues to
consume alcoholic beverages. This level of binge drinking can lead to, and more often than not
does lead to, blackouts, injuries, alcohol poisoning, drunk driving, unprotected sex, and sexual
assaults. Now, most college students are able to recognize that events such as blackouts and
injuries do happen to them and to those around them, but almost always find a way to laugh it off
and make it seem laughable. To them, blacking out means they must have had a great time, and
they shrug it off. Injuries such as black eyes, bruises, scrapes, concussions, etc, are also seen as a
joke. What students choose to ignore and dont realize is that these small injuries could lead to
larger ones and only happen because they drank too much and were unable to control their motor
functions. When it comes to some of the larger consequences associated with drinking, majority
of students think it wont or couldnt happen to them- until it does.
With the pressures to drink being so prevalent at this stage in life, generally 18 to 22 year
olds, it can be said that more harm that good comes from drinking atmospheres in college. A

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significant amount of students are not required to uphold life responsibilities such as finances
and are only responsible to care for themself, thus school and partying tend to coincide and
compete for the attention and devotion of any student. As soon a problem drinking pattern
appears, most students will and do tend to brush it off as a part of life or a right of passage.
During a college career, it seems to be considered normal to combat between the desire to party
and the need to succeed academically and almost strange or weird to choose the latter- studying.
When in college, heavy drinking frequently prevents students from doing the studying they must
do after class if they are to pass the class. (Howard 2). Students time and again just make it
throughout their courses with minimal application, rather than putting in the maximum amount
of effort needed to succeed. It would be accurate to say that those who do follow this skimming
through philosophy would have less options after the college academic and partying days are
over. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, about 1/4 of college
students reported academic consequences because of their their drinking, confirming that
academics and drinking really cannot coexist for the majority of students, but rather proves to be
fairly destructive in the long term. Binge drinking may contribute to the development of health
and social inequalities during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. (Viner). Seeing as
alcohol is considered to be a drug, those who regularly consume alcohol heavily would then be
developing a sort of dependence for the feelings associated with drinking. Drinking heavily
influences a person by taking away nerves and stresses for the moment, and helping to wash
away worries. Those effects to some could seem beneficial, but when those habits then follow
through to adulthood, drinking could get in the way of forming professional and personal

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relationships, both that of friendship and intimacy, as well as impairing one to really flourish in
the work place.
The excessive consumption of alcohol can implement serious mental health problems.
For example, an adolescent college student can show signs of increased anxiety, depression or
helplessness after or even during a period of alcohol consumption. These mental implications can
lead to lack of interest, alcohol dependency, or even suicidal thoughts. Copious amounts of
students use the access to alcohol as a way to drown or push away certain feelings of
depression, stress, or anxiety that are ever present on college campuses rather than finding
healthy ways to manage. What many students dont actually realize is that when binge drinking
occurs, those feeling might diminish for the time being, but once the alcohol subsides they are
left with only a feeling of hopelessness brought on by the depressant part of alcoholic beverages.
For those dealing with serious depression, however, alcohol can increase those feelings during
the binge drinking period which is even more dangerous because ones inhibitions would be
extremely diminished and the risk of suicide becomes more prevalent in those moments. Anxiety
too, can be brought on since alcohol affects the distribution of serotonin in the brain. Related
effects can be seen in binge drinkers who also show a lowered positive mood state in their
subjective ratings obtained via the Profile of Mood Scale compared with their non-binge
drinking counterparts, (Stephens 3). Serotonin is the chemical in the brain that affects mood and
well-being. When that distribution is compromised due to alcohol in those who have anxiety, or
those who take anxiety medications, they get incredibly antsy during or the day after binge
drinking. For many this anxious, depressed feeling could lead to the lack of interest in normal
every day activities, lack of focus or motivation in school, or even on a heavier scale, suicidal

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thoughts- as previously mentioned. For many college- aged adolescents, they choose to associate
these feelings with a typical hangover, which, yes, they come from binge drinking the night
before, but mores so from the withdrawal of alcohol and mental complications are not normal
and are in fact dangerous to the growing brain. Teenagers who binge drink could be slowing the
development of their brains, making them more prone to psychiatric disorders in later life, US
research shows, (Bingham). This being said, even for those who may not be experiencing
certain mental difficulties specifically in their college years, the mental capacity and well-being
of said person is being compromised every time they drown their bodies in alcoholic beverages.
As discussed previously, the presence of alcohol in the brain, for some, can decrease feelings of
anxiety and other mental disorders- for the time being. That, for plenty of users, makes alcohol a
prized possession and can lead to a serious addiction. Many rely on alcohol to ease them of their
every day stresses and woes, however this would lead to serious problems in the future such as
alcoholism and dependency, implications with obtaining or maintaing jobs, maintaining
friendships or intimate relationships or, again, mental impairments. Without proper education or
awareness of these implications, students in the college arena are at extreme risk for developing
real and serious mental disorders now or in the future.
With the common mindset among college students being, drink to get drunk, it is
evident that the consumption of alcohol is not being done with a knowledgeable approach,
instead students are blindly and boundlessly drinking. It is no longer, Lets have a few drinks
and have a good conversation, but instead, Lets get wasted and maybe remember some of the
night. For others, however, they may struggle with the fact that theyre not drinking that much,
or are consuming the same as their friends it seems but have a worse off time. One possibility

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this is happening is because alcohol reacts differently in each individual, but also it is all too real
that students have no idea just how much alcohol theyre actually consuming in a drink any given
night. In other words, students in college who arent being served standard drinks at bars, have
no idea what a standard drink size actually is. Binge drinking comes from drinking five or more
drinks in two hours typically, as previously stated. So then, what is a drink? For some this may
be five beers that are forty ounces, for others five shots, or even five cups of jungle juice. But all
of those drinks have different alcohol content are actually more than five standard drinks, unless
those shots were properly poured, which in college they most likely were over poured. Knowing
that a standard drink is a twelve ounce beer with 5% alcohol content, five ounces of wine that is
about 12% alcohol, and a shot is on and a half ounces of eighty-proof hard liquor that has 40%
alcohol content, becomes incredibly important for one to monitor their drinking habits and avoid
binging. It becomes trickier when parties through in all different types of alcohol with different
alcohol contents, and jungle juice containing different types of liquor and beer and some type
of fruit juice. Its best to avoid the latter if in hopes of remembering the night. Hard liquor proofs
can vary from 40% alcohol content to even 100% alcohol content. Many college students who
normally can take 8 shots in a night and feel like theyre at a good level, may not realize the
difference between the alcohol contents and think they can consume the same amount of a higher
content alcohol which would then end up not being the case. These situations of misjudging
alcohol content are what lead to dangerous situations such as alcohol poisoning. Alcohol
poisoning happens when the body physically and mentally shuts down in last hope to process the
excessive amount of alcohol someone has put into their body, often through binge drinking.
What generally happens in these situations is someone might take 5 shots with some friends in an

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hour and then go to a party and take 5 more throughout the next couple hours, not giving the
body time to metabolize each one individually. The body then becomes overwhelmed with the
blood alcohol content, or BAC, and starts to go into overdrive processing them, which usually
leads to the individual passing out and sleeping. In some sickening cases, the body cannot
metabolize the alcohol and the body completely shuts down, resulting in death in which a person
may just not wake up. That is the all too real and horrific truth that can come from binge drinking
and alcohol abuse. Unfortunately, the vast majority of college students dont see this ugly truth
that can come from excessive binge drinking until it happens to them or someone they know. The
biggest thing is though that if students would just open their eyes and try to be responsible to
how many drinks they're consuming, and of what, and help each other out then all of this could
and would be avoidable.
Its time for college-aged adolescence to stop being so blatantly naive and take
responsibility for their actions as they become adults. The majority of alcohol related problems
are found among binge drinkers and may precede the sequence of events leading to alcoholism
(Waszkiewicz). This is knowledge that should be engrained in the back of every adolescent mind
from the beginning, not that drinking and getting wasted is a part of the college experience.
Rather, students could be taught, or even just encourage each other, to drink in moderation and
have some great memories to be shared. The college experience of drinking excessively would in
fact turn into a life experience and affect an individual in the long term. There was a time when
people thought smoking cigarettes was fine, now there are commercials and ads everywhere for
the harmful effects targeted towards young adults. Why are these risks not being presented to the
college adolescents in regards to alcohol abuse? Without the support to learn and drink
responsibly it will never happen. Alcohol education most definitely needs to be integrated into

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students lives so they have a support system and background knowledge. Having each other to
fall back on and to make responsible choices together is the most important thing in moving
forward in colleges drinking. Students should be supporting each other and pushing towards a
brighter future together, in unison.

Works Cited
Bingham, John. Binge Drinking in Youth risks brain disorder in later life Daily Telegraph
(London) News (2015): 6 Print.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC,
2014. Web. 4 March 2015.
College Drinking National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. NIH, July 2013. Web. 4
March 2015.
Stephens, David N., and Theodora Duka. Cognitive and Emotional Consequences of Binge
Drinking: Role of Amygdala and Prefrontal Cortex Philosophical Transactions:
Biological Sciences 363.1507 (2008): 3139-3179. Print.
Viner, R.M., and B Taylor. Adult Outcomes of Binge Drinking in Adolescence: Findings From a
UK National Birth Cohort Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (1979-)
61.10 (2007):902-907. Print.
Waszkiewicz, N., and A Szulc Can We Better Prevent Binge Drinking? Journal of
Epidemiology and Community Health (1979-) 63.7 (2009): 589. Print.