User:A1teamresearch/Into to binge drinking

Drinking among college students has become a tradition that many consider is part of the "college experiace". Binge drinking is considerd a major public health concern as it effects a student in many more ways than just their physical health.

What is Binge Drinking? Binge drining is drinking alcoholic beverages with the intention of getting intoxicated. Usually binge drinking is considered drinking five or more alcoholic drinks at one time.

 Thesis: How does binge drinking effect college students in the United States?

To answer this research question we looked at data that shows differences in college students based on alcohol consumption. Differences were noticed socially, demographically, academically, physically, and mentally. Binge drinking has been shown to cause changes in the typical college student’s patterns of life.



Socially-  Social clubs, groups, organizations, and even athletic teams were looked at when researching the drinking patterns of college students.

Greek Life- According to a Harvard University study, 4 out of 5 fraternity and sorority members are binge drinkers. You can compare this to 2 out of 5 overall college students are regular binge drinkers.

<span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Why is Binge Drinking So High in Greek Life? There are many reasons why being involved with Greek life has led to higher rates of drinking.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">1- Lack of supervision- Often times there are no RA's in the houses that these clubs usually live in. Living in a house with a group of "brothers" and "sisters" with no one to keep an eye on them leads to more dangerous behavior.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">2- Social Pressure- When one wants to join a social club there is often social pressure to drink to impress or prove yourself to others. This often times leads people to drink that may usually not have been the type of person to drink often.

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border-width:1pt;border-style:none;border-color:windowtext;padding:0in;">Student Athletes- <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">  <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">In 2013 the NCAA surveyed 21,000 student athletes about their drinking habits as part of a study that occurs every four years. According to this, 8 years ago, 63 percent of male student athletes reported drinking more than 5 drinks in a sitting. (More than 5 drinks in a sitting is considered binge drinking) In 2013 that number has dropped to 44 percent.

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">What does this show?

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">1-Student athletes due have a tendancy to binge drink but it is not nearly as common as one involved in Greek Life.

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">2- When athletes are together typically as a group it is on the playing feild or inside of a gym. Usually athletes do not have the same social pressure to drink that one may have if they are in a Fraternity or serority. Athletes also are expected to be physically able to perform tasks in their sport. Drinking may effect the ability to do so as it causes several health issues.

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border-width:1pt;border-style:none;border-color:windowtext;padding:0in;">Demographics <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">- gender, race, culture, and etc.

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border-width:1pt;border-style:none;border-color:windowtext;padding:0in;">Academics- <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">  <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">next day mood and state of mind, overall test scores post binge drinking, GPA effected by Binge drinking. in this section we are looking at how binge drinking effects both long and short term academic success.

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border-width:1pt;border-style:none;border-color:windowtext;padding:0in;">Health- <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">  <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">physical and emotional health that is impacted by binge drinking. These health issues can occur as soon as months or not show up for many years.

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