Binge Drinking

Prevention of Binge Drinking The prevalence of binge drinking is a significant problem at university campuses and preventing this behaviour is difficult. For this age group, individual motivation to stop drinking is typically low as very few students perceive themselves as having a problem with alcohol. Furthermore, lasting change is difficult to attain in the face of underlying environmental conditions that promote alcohol use, a situation that is further exacerbated by the saturation of alcohol outlets in some college environments in addition to marketing practices that directly target post-secondary students (Weitzman and Nelson, 2004). As the culture of drinking is embedded in the university atmosphere and the social environment encourages the consumption of alcohol, changing its influence on students presents significant difficulties.

Past prevention efforts have largely emphasized changing the characteristics of individual drinkers, such as their knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions towards alcohol, but future prevention efforts should be encouraged to extend beyond these familiar approaches or to use them strategically to affect change in other areas (Wechsler et al., 2002). While individual drinking habits should be of concern, the environment in which students are being persuaded or influenced to consume alcohol should be evaluated to identify potential strategies to reduce abusive consumption practices.

While a variety of interventions have been constructed to reduce binge drinking, efforts targeting the culture of drinking have also been established to intervene with respect to correcting the social norms of alcohol consumption. Merely supplying information about the extent of a problem and its associated casualties is usually insufficient to change culturally embedded practices (Goldman, 2006). Given this, recommendations have been organized to incorporate a variety of approaches to address the problems of binge drinking. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Task Force has made recommendations which, while addressing those strategies that have not worked, include combinations of cognitive behavioural skills, alcohol-related criminal and administrative measures, and marketing campaigns which correct student misperceptions of peer alcohol use (Saltz, 2005). Through the inclusion of a wide variety of methods to alter perceptions of alcohol consumption and provide deterrence for overindulgent, it may be possible to address the underlying norms of university environments concerning binge drinking.

Moreover, methods have been initiated to target the primary source of binge drinking by restricting alcohol availability on campuses. Decreasing availability of alcohol to underage drinkers, raising alcohol taxes and prices, instituting mandatory responsible beverage service practices, and changing the conditions of availability by limiting outlets are examples of specific population-based approaches that appear effective at reducing consumption and harms (Weitzman and Nelson, 2004).

While addressing availability may prevent students from accessing alcohol on campus, further measures to address the pre-existing drinking culture within universities are being implemented. A survey of college administrators revealed that almost all of the 700 schools surveyed (97 per cent) provided general alcohol educational programs and most schools (98 per cent) applied restrictions on the supply of alcohol, such as restrictions on keg delivery to dormitories (Wechsler, Kelley, Weitzman, Giovanni, & Seibring, 2000). Many schools have also taken the initiative to address alcohol-related problems resulting in successful reductions in binge drinking practices in college environments.

A program called ‘A Matter of Degree: The National Effort to Reduce High-Risk Drinking Among Students’ (AMOD) was designed to foster collaboration between universities and their surrounding 8