Alcohol and College Students

It’s inevitable, college students drink whether they’re of age or not. Dion, Jason and Nick researched facts about drinking in college and some of these are pretty surprising. All of these facts were taken by the Core Institute’s survey of their students. Seventy-two percent of these students reported that they used alcohol at least once within the 30 days before completing that survey. And back to the topic of underage drinking, 82 percent reported using alcohol within the past year and 69 percent within the past 30 days. That’s very interesting, now how responsibly do these students drink? Apparently, they’re behavior isn’t too dangerous. The students reported that they drink less than six drinks per week and 35 percents reported they drank zero on a weekly basis.

These statistics are referring to the general student body who took the survey, but there are certain groups on campus that are drinking more than others. Student athletes are often the heaviest drinkers on campus; half of college athletes are binge drinkers and experience a greater number of alcohol-related harms than other students. Another group that drinks more than all the other students is the Greek system. 86 percent of students involved in the Greek system reported that they used alcohol at least once in the past 30 days before taking the survey. A startling statistic is that 93 percent of Greeks reported using alcohol within the past year.

In the Greek system, the students believe that drinking is a central aspect of the social life of a Greek; in fraternities and sororities. The students within the Greek system believe that as well, seeing as 88 percent of fraternities and 78 percent of sororities agreed on that. Being part of Greek life, Delta Phi Epsilon has a very strict alcohol policy, so we’re not like the other stereotypical sororities in that aspect. Not every sorority focuses on drinking, they focus on class and becoming a respectable woman.

This is the link for the article where I got all the statistics from: http://www.alcohol101plus.org/downloads/collegestudents.pdf