The Badger Herald: News: Harvard releases drinking study

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Harvard releases drinking study

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Also by Shayna Miller:

Provost talks to students about the ills of money problems (February 20, 2004)
Applications into respective majors on the rise (December 2, 2003)
Some colleges express difficulty funding research projects (November 6, 2003)
Overestimating college costs (October 28, 2003)
Distance education increases in popularity, prevalence (October 30, 2003)

Friday, September 19, 2003 12:00 a.m.

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A study by the Harvard School of Public Health has concluded that drink specials lead to higher rates of student drinking.

“[This study] points to one of the contributing factors increasing the level of drinking — namely, the marketing sale of high quantities of alcohol at low prices,” study director Henry Wechsler said.

Wechsler’s study surveyed students at 118 college campuses and observed 1600 liquor stores and 800 bars on or near campuses.

The study found that almost three-quarters of on-campus stores offered specials on weekends and almost half of off-campus stores offered at least one beer promotion.

“Colleges have been trying to deal with the problem of drinking on campuses for a number of years. Now I personally don’t think they can address this problem without looking at this study,” Wechsler said.

University of Wisconsin Life Sciences Communication Associate Professor Jacqueline Bush Hitchon said drinking behaviors may be affected by cost, but not every product would be affected.

“If it’s not a specialty beer, wine, or liquor, then lowering its price wouldn’t hurt its image. At a lower price, it’s going to be more attractive to students with limited budgets,” Hitchon said.

UW senior Adam Miller said that price does not usually influence his alcohol purchasing decisions.

“We always stick with Miller products. I wouldn’t buy cheaper beer because of its price. After all, there’s cheaper beer than Miller Lite,” Miller said. “I think people will buy what they like to drink, even if it’s a little more expensive. Maybe younger students would buy cheaper alcohol.”

However, UW senior Jen Lloyed said she would take advantage of cheaper alcohol, but the lower cost would not make her drink more of it.

UW director of Policy, Alternatives, Community and Education program Susan Crowley said Wechsler’s study applies to UW.

“I think it relates to our activities regarding late-night drink specials. We’ve been advocating the ban of cheap alcohol to discourage high-risk drinking,” Crowley said.

Crowley said that PACE decided to lobby for drink special regulation in Madison based on social science data on drinking behaviors, as well as observations in local taverns.

PACE researchers compiled data from police reports this past year, finding that alcohol-related violations rose slightly on Thursday, significantly dropped on Friday and remained the same on Saturday after a voluntary drink special ban in popular downtown taverns.

“Whatever venue it is students choose to drink, we want to make sure wherever they drink is safe, and we’ll continue to look at whatever venue that is, whether it be house parties or bars,” Crowley said.

Crowley said PACE will monitor the drink-special ban data, available at the end of October. PACE’s new initiative will involve uniting students with the community to establish cooperation and norms related to drinking.

“I think college administrators have to work together with town and city officials to solve this problem—it’s too big for all campuses to handle alone,” Wechsler said.