Monday October 1, 2001

$139,909 will go to programs that reduce high-risk drinking and violent behavior among college students

The UA was awarded a portion of a $2 million grant to prevent high-risk drinking and violent behavior among students. The portion of the grant, given to the University of Arizona on Tuesday, was $139,909.

This funding is meant to aid UA's high-risk drinking prevention program by providing funds for the "social norming" campaign, an attempt to educate students about the actual statistics of drinking so that binge drinking is not mistaken for a common behavior.

"The majority of the grant will be used to make first-year students more aware of the norms of alcohol use through posters, campus factoids, commercials on Channel 3, newsletters and other strategies," said Carolyn Collins, director of Health Promotion and Preventive Services for Campus Health Services.

Koreen Johannessen, senior adviser of prevention for Campus Health Services, said many students get the idea from newspapers, TV and radio that college students drink to get drunk.

"If we provide information back to students about what is actually occurring in terms of drinking, it takes away some of the pressure students feel to drink up to a standard that doesn't really exist," she said.

The preventative program headed by Campus Health Services has experienced high levels of success in the past. The program's main goal is to promote awareness of drinking facts among students, Collins said.

"The high-risk drinking prevention program at the UA has worked very well. We're really thrilled with it," Collins said. "There has been a 29 percent reduction of heavy drinking in the past few years."

Heavy drinking is defined as having five or more drinks in one sitting at any time in a two-week period, Collins said.

The UA is one of the first schools in the nation to experience success with the social norming approach to preventing high-risk drinking, Collins said. The program was selected to the National Registry of Effective Prevention Programs, a resource for schools and communities seeking proven methods to educate students about substance abuse.

"Lots of schools across the country are trying to reduce drinking," Johannessen said. "The national heavy drinking rate at colleges is 46 percent. We're about 10 percent lower. Most of our students are light to moderate drinkers. Twenty percent of our students don't even drink."

Collins said because the heavy drinking rate at the UA is lower, there is also a lower rate of drunk driving and other negative consequences of heavy drinking.

"We've worked really hard with different offices around campus and the community to make the UA a safe place," Collins said.

In order to further promote a safe community, the grant will also be utilized for the prevention of violence related to alcohol.

"When people drink too much, they're more likely to fight or get into violent, unsafe situations. So preventing high-risk drinking also helps to prevent violence," Johannessen said.

One student said she believes the effort to reduce dangerous binge drinking is beneficial to students' health.

"I think it's a good idea to use the grant for this purpose because it will hopefully change student's health for the better," said Ok-Kyung Choo, a molecular and cellular biology junior. "Drinking a lot at an early age causes health problems when you get older, so reducing drinking will help people preserve their bodies."