Sure, I realize most of you aren’t hanging out on college campuses this fall, but many of you just dropped your kids (or maybe your grandkids) off at their dorms.  But, what happens after you leave?  Your precious child is alone (maybe for the first time) and temptations abound.  Binge drinking is one of the most common and serious problems faced by these kids.

What is Binge Drinking?

I’m not talking about getting together with friends and having a few drinks. Definitions vary from being intoxicated (which seems a little too broad and an inappropriate standard), to an extended period (usually at least 2 days) during which the person becomes intoxicated repeatedly (which seems more serious than a simple binge), to consumer 2 bottles of wine or half a bottle of liquor in the same occasion (which seems to be getting closer).

So, when we talk about binge drinking, we’re talking about a situation where the person consumes large quantities of alcohol over a relatively short period — past the point of intoxication.  I remember a girl who consumed so much alcohol during one night during our freshman year, we had to call an ambulance.  By the time it got there, she was cold as ice and having trouble breathing.  She was hospitalized and her parents took her home the next week.

When I was in college, in the ’70′s, binge drinking was pretty rare.  Now, my students commonly get drunk BEFORE leaving the dorms for a night of partying (because it’s cheaper to drink at home).  By the time they return, they’ve consumed enough alcohol to fit many definitions of binge drinking.

And the problem is getting worse. According the a study by Columbia University:

The rate of excessive drinking jumped 16 percent from 1993 to 2005. Those college students who drink until drunk in the past month rose 26% over that decade. Even more alarming is this statistic: alcohol-related arrest per campus rose 21 percent from 2001 to 2005.

Consequences of Binge Drinking

Drinking to excess is no longer “social drinking” or having a good time.  It becomes an end unto itself — the goal for a night on the town.  But, there are serious consequences.  According to the Center for Science in the Public interest:

Binge drinking negatively affects college students’ academic performance, social relationships and health. Frequent binge drinkers are 21 times more likely than non-binge drinkers to miss classes, fall behind in schoolwork, engage in vandalism, be injured or hurt, engage in unplanned sexual activity, not use protection when having sex, get in trouble with campus police, or drive a car after drinking.

What Can Be Done?

Colleges and parents are seriously concerned about the extent of binge drinking on college campuses.  A number of college presidents advocate lowering the drinking age to 18 as a way to curb this practice.  While this move may seem counterintuitive, such a radical change might work.

First, lowering the drinking age to 18 means most college students will have their first encounters with alcohol while still living in the more controlled environments of their parents’ homes.  Certainly many high school students get alcohol now, despite age restrictions, but consumption is often hidden from parents because it’s illegal.  Lowering the drinking age would allow students to openly consume alcohol and encourage more input from parents.

Second, lowering the alcohol minimum age removes some of the mystic associated with a forbidden product.  Psychology is replete with examples where people are highly motivated to acquire things they can’t have — in fact, it underpins one of the elements of influence identified by Cialdini.  Prohibition effectively proved that consumption may actually increase when the product is illegal.

Your Turn

Do you think lowering the drinking age would limit to incidence of binge drinking on college campuses? Would you support such a move?