Harvard university study claims 44 percent of students are binge drinkers

A study released Monday concluded that 44 percent of college students across the country engage in binge drinking - but UA Campus Health officials called its conclusions inaccurate.

A report on a yearly survey done by Harvard University's College of Alcohol Study concluded that although several efforts have been made to reduce binge drinking, 44 percent of all college students binge drink.

The percentage has been the same since the study began nine years ago.

A total of 119 universities in 38 states participated in the survey, including the University of Arizona.

Of the more than 10,000 students who took the survey, 44 percent said they had engaged in binge drinking within two weeks of taking the survey.

The study defined binge drinking as men who have had five or more drinks in a row and woman who have had four or more in a row.

Melissa McGee, coordinator for harm and risk reduction at Campus Health Services, said although 44 percent of those students may have drunk five or more drinks, the study's inaccuracy comes from the fact that several other factors have not been taken into consideratioin.

Henry Wechsler, director of the study at Harvard University, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

McGee said factors like the duration of time in which students were drinking, as well as students' gender and size, are crucial factors in determining how much alcohol students can handle before their behavior is constituted as binge drinking.

She said Wechsler's study failed to take into consideration any of those factors.

McGee said the survey's results may have also been distorted by questions relating to how students actually perceive binging.

"Most students have a different perception of the word," McGee said.

McGee said a survey done by Campus Health is benchmarked from the Harvard survey, which she said only looks at the majority rather than the minority.

McGee called the Harvard study a more traditional one, in that it only focused on the minority.

A nurse at Campus Health Services said that alcohol-related cases are on the downturn, which could indicate that more students are actually drinking safely and not binging.

Lisette LeCorgne, coordinator for the Acute Care Unit at Campus Health, said that although she still does see some cases related to alcohol, the number of cases has dropped over a seven-year period.

Garrett Raetzman, owner of Frog n' Firkin, 874 E. University Blvd., also agreed that the study misrepresents the awareness of college students.

"These days, college kids are a lot more responsible, and they're a lot more aware of what's going on," he said.

Raetzman said that the trend of students being more aware while drinking has increased over the past 20 years.

McGee said although students still may choose to drink heavily at times, the chance to educate them on the dangers of drinking is key.

McGee said first-year students are more susceptible to getting into trouble from heavy drinking because of a lack of experience and knowledge of their body's limits. He said older students have normally learned what their limit is as they go through school.

She said her department is currently working to educate first-year students and students who have chosen to start drinking at age 21 to know what their limit is before they have a bad experience.

She said the U.S. Department of Education recently awarded a grant of more than $150,000 to her department to educate students on drugs and alcohol.

She added that the survey conducted by Campus Health revealed that 30 percent of students didn't drink alcohol within 30 days of taking the survey.

One UA student agreed with the Harvard survey. She said her friends regularly consume more than five drinks within a short time period, which she defined as binge drinking.

"Whenever I go to a party, (five drinks or more) seems to be the case," said Denitza Marquez, an engineering sophomore. "Sometimes, people will drink a lot faster in order to get a buzz."

Marquez added that when her friends seem to be depressed, they also tend to drink faster.

Brendan Wood, veterinary science sophomore and member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, 1420 N. Vine Ave., said that the number of drinks that the Harvard University study indicates may be accurate, he doesn't think of it as binging, but a part of college life.

"Drinking, period, is a part of the college experience," Wood said.

Wood's housemate, finance sophomore Chris Osmond, added that the drinking experience is not limited to just the greek system, but the entire student body.