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System stats show decrease in binge drinking trend

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by Carl Jaeger

Monday, December 3, 2007

University of Wisconsin System students are becoming less prone to binge drinking, although the numbers are still above national binge drinking rates among college students, according to a survey released last week.

The survey was administered by the UW System Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Committee and consisted of responses from 15,077 UW System university and college students and will be discussed as part of the December UW System Board of Regents meeting Thursday.

Seventy-seven percent of survey respondents — who were randomly selected from each school — said they had consumed alcohol in the last thirty days. Within those respondents, 54 percent said they had participated in binge drinking at least once in the last two weeks, down 5 percent from the 2005 survey.

The national average of binge drinking among college students is 44 percent, according to the report.

For purposes of the survey, binge drinking was defined as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting.

UW System upperclassmen are also more likely to participate in binge drinking. In the two weeks prior to the survey, 57 percent of seniors and 58 percent of juniors said they had participated in binge drinking, compared to 52 percent of sophomores and 48 percent of freshmen.

Binge drinking rates among the Greek communities on UW System campuses are significantly higher than all students, as 74 percent of fraternity or sorority members engaged in binge drinking, according to the survey.

Despite the decline in binge drinking rates, overall awareness of drug and alcohol prevention throughout the UW System campuses has also declined since 2005.

When asked if they were aware of the regulations an individual campus has concerning alcohol use by students, 59 percent of students said they were aware of the policies, compared to 65 percent in 2005.

UW System spokesperson David Giroux said the decrease in drinking trends shows the UW System is "moving in the right direction," but added it is still an issue across state campuses.

"We’ll have much more insight down the road when we have more years of research under our belt," Giroux said. "We still have more work to do because the numbers show binge drinking among UW students statewide is still above national averages. It’s moving in the right direction, but we haven’t gotten to where we need to get."

Giroux said the study plays an important role in helping control binge drinking across state campuses.

"The more that we can arm our counselors and our educators with real data about the behaviors and about their consequences, the better we can help them to change those behaviors and improve the educational environment on our campuses," Giroux said.

The survey also analyzed the use of drugs other than alcohol and problems individuals experienced due to drinking.

Marijuana use among respondents decreased from 20 percent to 15 percent between 2005 and 2007. Seventy percent of respondents reported suffering from a hangover, up 1 percent from 2005, and 41 percent of respondents reported doing something they later regretted, down 7 percent from 2005.

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