High-Risk Drinking in College: What We Know and What We Need To Learn
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“Battle of the Binge: A Fatal Night of Boozing at...”
The newspaper headline above is a college administrator’s worst nightmare. Behind its
attention-grabbing words is a major public health problem: excessive use of alcohol by
college students. The legal drinking age in the United States is 21, but heavy drinking by
underage college students—and by those who are age 21 or older—is widespread, dangerous, and
disruptive. Indeed, U.S. college presidents have identified alcohol use as their number one
campus-life problem.
Excessive drinking among college students is associated with a variety of negative
consequences that include fatal and nonfatal injuries; alcohol poisoning; blackouts; academic
failure; violence, including rape and assault; unintended pregnancy; sexually transmitted
diseases, including HIV/AIDS; property damage; and vocational and criminal consequences that
could jeopardize future job prospects.
An Entrenched Problem
The College Scene
Recommendations: Strategies to Reduce Student
Alcohol Consumption
Back to Table of Contents | Next
Historical document
Last reviewed: 9/23/2005
| 
