College students who report being frequent high-risk drinkers are the ones who consume alcohol to relieve stress but in return, ruin their mental and physical health. “Essay writer” not only assists you in academic progress, but it also cares for your health.
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College student drinking is a widespread phenomenon that can have serious consequences for students’ health, safety, and academic performance. One way to measure the extent of college drinking is to examine the percentage of incoming college students who report being frequent high-risk drinkers.
High-risk drinking is defined as consuming four or more drinks in a row for women and five or more drinks in a row for men during a single sitting (within the last year). This question aims to explore the prevalence and trends of high-risk drinking among college freshmen and the factors that may influence their drinking behavior.
Frequent, high-risk drinking is a pattern of alcohol consumption that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08% or more, which corresponds to consuming 5 or more drinks for males or 4 or more drinks for females in about 2 hours.
Drinking this way can pose serious health and safety risks, such as car crashes, drunk-driving arrests, sexual assaults, injuries, and death. Over the long term, frequent binge drinking can damage the liver and other organs.
Drinking at college has become a ritual that students often see as an integral part of their higher education experience. However, harmful and underage college drinking are significant public health problems affecting students, their families, and their communities.
Being drinking is defined as the pattern of taking alcohol at a level that
“blood-to-alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08% or 0.08 grams per 100 milliliters of alcohol per deciliter or more. It is equivalent to consuming 5 or more drinks for males and 4 drinks for females in a time period of 2 hours”
Drinking this way can pose serious health and safety risks, including car crashes, drunk-driving arrests, sexual assaults, and injuries. Over the long term, frequent binge drinking can damage the liver and other organs.
Binge drinking poses serious life-threatening consequences such as car crashes, drunk-driving arrests, sexual assaults, head and body injuries, and in some cases even death. Over a long period, it can damage the liver, and kidneys, digestion issues, and mental problems.
The percentage of incoming college students who report being frequent high-risk drinkers can affect the students’ life in various ways, such as
Frequent high-risk drinking can impair students’ cognitive abilities, memory, concentration, and motivation, leading to lower grades, missed classes, or dropped courses.
According to a national survey, college students who binge drank alcohol at least three times per week were roughly six times more likely to perform poorly on a test or project as a result of drinking (40 percent vs. 7 percent) than students who drank but never binged.
Drinking can increase a person’s risk of injury, ranging from minor cuts to broken bones or concussions. The higher someone’s blood alcohol content (BAC) level, the greater the chance of getting injured. Each year, close to 600,000 college students unintentionally injure themselves due to heavy drinking.
Drinking can make students more vulnerable to physical or sexual assault, either as perpetrators or victims. The most recent NIAAA statistics estimate that another student who has been drinking and about 97,000 students ages 18 to 24 report experiencing alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape assaulted about 696,000 students ages.
Frequent high-risk drinking can damage the liver and other organs, increase blood pressure, cause inflammation of the pancreas, and weaken the immune system. Nearly 150,000 college students develop some type of alcohol-related health problem every year. Frequent high-risk drinking can also increase the risk of developing an alcohol use disorder later in life.
Drinking can lead to violations of campus or state alcohol policies, such as underage drinking, drunk driving, vandalism, or disorderly conduct. These violations can result in fines, arrests, suspensions, or expulsions. About 5 percent of college students get into legal trouble as a result of alcohol.
According to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 49.3% of full-time college students ages 18 to 22 drank alcohol in the past month; and, of those, about 27.4% engaged in binge drinking during that same time frame. The most recent statistics from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) estimate that about
Several studies have also examined the correlates and consequences of college and binge drinking. Some of the factors that have been found to be associated with higher levels of alcohol use and binge drinking among college students include:
Negative Outcomes Attached with College Students’ Being Frequent High-risk Drinker
Negative outcomes of college students being frequent high-risk drinkers is not only catastrophic as it leads to high levels of stress that eventually end up at death.
Some of the negative outcomes that have been linked to alcohol use and binge drinking among college students include:
The results showed that the overall percentage of incoming college students who reported being frequent high-risk drinkers was 11%. This percentage was higher than the national average of 8.9% for young adults ages 18 to 25 who reported binge drinking on five or more days in the past month.
However, this percentage was lower than the estimate of 17% for incoming college students who reported being frequent high-risk drinkers in a previous study that used data from Alcohol Edu for College in 2010.
These results suggest that frequent high-risk drinking is a prevalent and persistent problem among incoming college students, especially among certain subgroups that may be more vulnerable or exposed to alcohol-related influences or pressures. These results also indicate that frequent high-risk drinking is influenced by a complex interplay of demographic, and social-psychological factors that may shape students’ attitudes and behaviors toward alcohol.
There is no single or easy solution to reduce the percentage of incoming college students who report being frequent high-risk drinkers, as this is a complex and multifaceted problem that requires a comprehensive and coordinated approach. However, some possible steps that may help reduce or prevent harmful and underage college drinking are:
Educating students about the effects and risks of alcohol use and binge drinking, as well as the legal and academic consequences of violating campus or state policies. This can be done through online or in-person courses, workshops, campaigns, or peer-led programs that provide accurate and relevant information and skills to students.
For example, AlcoholEdu for College is an online course that aims to educate incoming college students about alcohol and its effects on health, safety, and academic success.
Providing screening and intervention services to identify and assist students who may have alcohol problems or who are at risk of developing them. This can include brief motivational interviews, personalized feedback, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or referral to specialized treatment programs that are tailored to the needs and preferences of college students.
For example, BASICS (Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students) is a preventive intervention for college students who drink alcohol heavily and have experienced or are at risk for alcohol-related problems.
Implementing environmental strategies that aim to change the campus culture and norms around alcohol use and availability. This can involve enforcing minimum legal drinking age laws and campus alcohol policies, limiting alcohol sales or advertising on or near campus, increasing the price or tax of alcohol, offering alcohol-free events or activities, or engaging parents, faculty, staff, and community members in supporting a healthy and safe campus environment.
Supporting students’ well-being and resilience by addressing the underlying factors that may contribute to their alcohol use or misuse. This can include promoting mental health awareness and services, enhancing academic motivation and performance, fostering positive social connections and peer support, or providing alternative coping strategies for stress or emotional distress.
For example, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a program that teaches students how to use mindfulness techniques to reduce stress and improve well-being.
NIAAA’s CollegeAIM (Alcohol Intervention Matrix) is a tool that helps college officials compare the effectiveness and costs of different environmental strategies to address college drinking.
By taking these steps, college administrators, educators, counselors, health professionals, and students themselves may be able to reduce the percentage of incoming college students who report being frequent high-risk drinkers and improve their health, safety, and academic success.
The answer to the question of what the percentage of incoming college students who report being frequent high-risk drinkers and how it affects their life in simple words is one is at being high-risk drinking as one whose consumption is of four or more drinks in a row for women and five or more drinks in a row for men during a single sitting (within the last year).
Data suggests that incoming college students reported being frequent high-risk drinkers 11%, which was higher than the national average for young adults and lower than a previous estimate for college freshmen. Some of the factors that may influence high-risk drinking among college students, such as gender, race, living arrangements, peer pressure, stress, availability of alcohol, campus culture, expectations about alcohol effects, and membership in certain groups.
Some of the negative outcomes that can result from high-risk drinking, such as impaired academic performance, increased risk of injury or death, increased risk of assault, increased risk of health problems, and increased risk of legal problems.
Few steps that can help reduce or prevent harmful and underage college drinking, such as educating students about the effects and risks of alcohol use and binge drinking, and providing screening and intervention services to identify and assist students who may have alcohol problems or who are at risk of developing them, implementing environmental strategies that aim to change the campus culture and norms around alcohol use and availability, and supporting students’ well-being and resilience by addressing the underlying factors that may contribute to their alcohol use or misuse.
Meanwhile, it is very important for students to think critically about alcohol usage and how it may affect their health, safety, and academic success.