NEWS
Study: students are safe tailgaters
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Sundeep Malladi:
- In-Depth: What's affected by budget cuts? (September 1, 2005)
- In-Depth: Letter and the law (October 13, 2005)
Related Stories:
- NCAA study says college athletes finish in 4 years (October 17, 2008)
- Studying not essential part of learning for students (November 18, 2002)
- Added cost of studying abroad (December 10, 2007)
- New study reveals conservative swing on campuses (February 18, 2002)
- Trojan: UW safe at sex (September 11, 2007)
Share This:
by Sundeep Malladi
Thursday, October 7, 2004
According to a recent study, a majority of college students know how to play it safe while tailgating. The National Collegiate Athletic Association and brewing company Anheuser-Busch, released the 2004 Safe Celebration Study, showing 90 percent of students tailgate safely.
Data Development Corp. produced the survey in California. Nearly 1,000 college students, ages 21 to 29, took part in personal interviews among a “representative sample of colleges and universities within the NCAA football and basketball divisions,” according to a release.
Students must have attended at least one home football or basketball game in the past year to participate in the study.
Michael Haines, director of the National Social Norm Research Center, oversaw the survey. He said the social norms approach has been effectively used in many major campaigns including improving seatbelt use, preventing alcohol and tobacco abuse, and drunk driving.
He said many students can falter to “imaginary peer pressure” when placed in a tailgating situation.
On its website, the NSNRC describes the social norms approach as “a variety of methods to correct negative misperceptions (usually overestimations of use), and to identify, model and promote the healthy, protective behaviors that are the actual norm in a given population.”
Of the 986 students surveyed, 93 percent said they do not throw beverages and 92 percent said they do not fight with other fans. If on a given day at Camp Randall 13,000 fans enter the stadium, 910 of them throw beverages and 1,040 of them fight with other fans, according to the survey.
The study states 58 percent of students think fans fight with others at most games.
Haines said the study should not be looked at as saying a small majority of students engage in destructive behavior, but rather that a majority of students chooses not to.
Critics oppose Anheuser-Busch’s partnership with the NCAA because they say it taints the study, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“I don’t really understand why the NCAA had to go to Anheuser-Busch considering they’re a brewery,” UW freshman Dan Safarik said.
Mary Wilfert of the NCAA said the NCAA was responsible for coming up with the idea for the survey, while Anheuser-Busch was responsible for funding and developing the concept.
Anheuser-Busch and other members became involved “to promote responsible drinking and positive fan behavior at sports and entertainment facilities,” the release stated.
Haines said when he asked students what they felt was most important in a game setting, he found they “want to be safe, they want to have fun.”
He said a majority of students act reasonably, which is “the best kept secret in the stadium.”
