The Sun Smelled to Loud

The Sun Smelled to Loud; College Student’s Drinking Behaviors

Abstract

Underage drinking is a major issue throughout universities and colleges across the United States. Whether underage or of age, college students, regardless, will find a way to consume alcohol. College campuses are known for partying and drinking being the key activity implemented. However, what are the reasons college students drink and how often do they consume alcoholic beverages? We used accumulated survey data collected from student volunteers attending St. Thomas Aquinas College in Rockland County, NY via Facebook, a social media networking website.

The survey administered depicted drinking behaviors amongst college students who reside on campus and college students who commute to campus; taking gender, age, and drinking habits into consideration. Finding convey that more commuting students were represented than resident students. Females and males that participated in this survey, with the population reporting that the majority represents more females than males, are primarily represented by students the age of twenty-one years or older, legally by law able to consume alcohol. More times than none, to loosen up and relax was the main reason for drinking alcohol with the majority consuming between one and seven drinks each week.

Introduction

Every fall, students return to college campuses for yet another year of learning; or do they? Throughout various universities and colleges scattered throughout the United States alcohol plays a huge role in the life of a college student. Whether alcohol is used by a student in college who is under the legal drinking age of twenty one or by legal aged drinkers, there are several hazards linked with drinking and living directly and indirectly in a college environment. Distinctively speaking, what would be the difference between college students who live on campus opposed to those who commute to classes daily? The differences of where a student lives has much influence over a student’s drinking behavior.

Even before college, well before the legal drinking age, students develop their own idea of what future alcohol use will be like, they anticipate the day that they will be able to drink (Chassin, L, DeLucia, C). College is an eighteen year olds source of freedom. When a student chooses to go away to college, they gain even more freedoms than the non-residing college student. They are away from their guardians and living for the most part on their own. Despite the set of rules, regulations, and enforcers of said rules and regulations; most colleges issue student handbooks, and have campus security, housing professionals, and resident assistants, the majority of a student’s time is spent unsupervised.

Alcohol can be a highly dangerous substance if abused. There are many reasons why students in college drink alcohol. Peer pressure, low self-esteem, or even to fit into a social group are a few reasons as to why a student might start drinking (Chassin, L, DeLucia). Underage drinkers as well as legal age drinkers have diverted alcohol from its original purpose with modern twists on drinking to get drunk and getting drunk fast and staying drunk for long period of time. Ellen O’Connell (2001) conducted a survey with results showing that fifty percent of people between the ages of eighteen and twenty are ranked second in using alcohol heavily. Twenty one to twenty five year olds ranked first.

The use of alcohol can be dated back to the earliest of times throughout the world. Along with diverse immigrants settling the new land came their drinking habits too (Lender, M, Martin, J). Alcohol was used for various means and served many purposes such as showing agreement over important business deals, celebrating important events, shared as a token of appreciated for helping someone, and used while talking over and settling arguments. According to Koroknay, Alcohol was a big part of Colonial America from the time when they had started their voyage until they arrived at Plymouth and even more after. A board the Mayflower one would find that there was more beer than water for their sail to the New World. The people of that time period had found out through undertakings that it was safer to drink alcohol than the polluted water of Europe.

In 1984 the United States Congress put a new law into effect. This law was the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. It stated that to purchase alcohol one must be of twenty one years of age; this age requirement was because congress believed a set age would help control alcohol use and misuse (Koroknay). It’s of public observation that colleges and universities alike all across the United States have dorm parties or mixer party events where alcohol is the main ingredient. As stated in an article about college students and their drinking behaviors, nineteen thousand plus lives have been saved since the law had been put into effect (2002). However, years after this law was put into play, there are underage drinking along with the reoccurrence of alcohol induced incidents by said minors as well as legal aged drinker’s college students.

Drinking a large amount of anything in a short period of time isn’t healthy and couldn’t be a good thing. Having anymore than five consecutive drinks is considered binge drinking, as stated in an article by Pedersen and LaBrie. Consuming anymore than seven drinks it becomes dangerous (Pedersen, E, LaBrie, J). According to the results of the Pedersen article, men drink more drinks in total over the span of a month than women do. Heavy alcohol use also affects students other than the drinker. Students with high rates of binge drinking experience more second hand effects of alcohol use such as verbal, physical, and sexual assaults, and property damage than do students at schools where the rates are low (Wechsler)(Miley, W, Frank, M). Keeling (2000) reports that research from a 1999 College Alcohol study (Wechsler, Lee, Kuo, & Lee, 1999) exhibits that half of the student responding underrate, rather than overrated binge drinking on campus. 29% overestimated binge drinking though 13% were precise, and 12% said they weren’t knowledgeable about binge drinking on campus. Students were more likely to miscalculate at schools with higher percentages of binge drinking. Students overrated binge drinking at only 8% of schools that were surveyed. Students who are repeated binge drinkers are more likely to overrate the drinking average of a campus, but those binge drinkers who expect plenty of binge drinking represented only 29% of the binge drinkers (Carter & Kahnweiler, 2000).

Besides, what might not seem like such a harmful act while drunk to one person, can have a different influence towards others, predominantly those who binge drink and turn into loud rambunctious societal members. During casual talk with a friend who lives in Morgantown, West Virginia’s college town, she describes living within this town as being like a non-smoker living in a house with all smokers. Even though she doesn’t smoke simply being surrounded with smokers one is inevitably getting second hand smoke. This is much like living in a college environment because you don’t have to go to college to get the “secondhand smoke”. She witnesses and is often disrupted by college students and their partying and going to bars and yelling in the streets at all hours of the night. “Harmless” drunkenness greatly affects her life even though she is not the one doing the drinking.

It doesn’t matter if the student is an underage drinker or legal age drinker in a college environment, abuse of alcohol is an issue that demands attention. It’s an issue that involves not only the student but also the community the college is situated in. O’Connell stated that the social cost of underage drinking has been estimated at fifty-three billion dollars, including nineteen billion from traffic crashes and twenty-nine from violent crime. Her study showed the relationship between underage college students utilizing alcohol and legal-age college students utilizing alcohol and their behavior that go along with each groups drinking. One distinctive result was that despite the student’s age most college students will drink excessive amounts of alcohol. This behavior can lead to a number of incidents.

Students in college, who haven’t reached the legal drinking age and those who have use alcohol to fit in, keep a cool status in front of peers, or even to feel good about themselves and forget their problems. Drinking originally was a socially fun way to relax and kick back for a few hours of bliss. However, at present time, college students get a foot and take a yard. They get freedom and then abuse it. This is when it’s no longer good times because someone gets hurt.

For high school seniors’ going off to college is an eventful time. The stereotype of what happens at college and the fearsome accuracy of them is alarming. If one was to pick up a news paper or watch current events online or television you will find they rarely have a success story about college kids, they always seem to be covering a student charged with a DWI or alcohol tempted assault. Sure college is about having fun and growing as a person as well as academically aspiring, however, all that is greatly affected by partying and drinking. I’ve researched literature on this topic that informed me enough to form a solid stand on such a dangerous issue our country faces. Because of the prevalence, dangers, and occurrences observed from numerous college students all around me, this abuse should be contested.

All the literature I have read enabled me to further explore other possibilities concerning college students and their drinking behaviors. The opportunity to overuse alcohol is a reality for a considerable number of college students. Deciding what role alcohol will play is a choice that every student must make for themselves. Having friends who drink, a lack of control from outside sources and the disregarding of the cost of binging are not justifiable reasons for drinking excessively. Drinking with friends can seem more alluring than studying, feeling stressed out, bored or lonely. Although as many students find out, the consequences are not worth the quick-fix release, in reality, the distressing regret of an alcohol induced incident or failing grades overshadow any temporary feelings of deprivation.

Data and Method

To investigate the matter of drinking and its association with the college environment and in an effort to resolve my inquiry of whether or not commuting to campus or residing on campus has an impact on the drinking behavior of college students; I performed a research assignment that involved sending out a mass message through a social media networking website called Facebook. In this message I informed the potential surveyor that the survey was for classroom purposes and completely anonymous.

My design choice was a survey because I recognized that it would be the most lucrative method in gathering useful information for my study, being that I would be gathering said information from my peers attending St. Thomas Aquinas College. Presumably, surveying would be the dominant method for harvesting information because of the many benefits that surveys particularly provide for the needs of my research. Primary, surveys are typically anonymous. Completing a survey will less likely discourage the survey taker and promote more answers based of truth. Next, the survey method design choice gives the researcher the opportunity to ask questions that are relevant to the initial research objective.

The time frame that is presented for this study is essentially inadequate; given that we only have roughly three to four months to, establish, investigate, create, and employ finding for this final survey research assignment. Hence, using a cross-sectional method survey design would be beneficial for such circumstances. “Cross-sectional studies capture some part of social reality at a single point in time; in a sense, cross-sectional research provides a snapshot of reality” (textbookp125). Furthermore, surveys can also gather data that can’t be observed. For instance, one has the capability to observe another’s behaviors, but it is impossible to watch another’s thoughts. In order to find out another person’s opinion or sentiments on a particular matter, one has to do so by asking a series of questions; through surveying this become possible in a way that is comfortable for both surveyor and surveyed.

In creating a survey, the members in my group analyzing drinking behaviors of college students at St. Thomas Aquinas College, and myself thought up questions that would be of use to all of our particular subtopics on drinking behaviors in college. Within the survey, general demographic questions concerning: age, sex, gender, relationship status, employment, religion, commuter or resident of the campus, current academic year, and division of study. Also there are several general questions regarding drinking, such as: whether or not one drinks alcohol, at what age was one’s first drink, when did one start drinking on a regular basis, feelings towards drinking and why does one suppose they do drink, alcoholic beverage of choice, when, where, and how often does one consume alcohol, does alcohol affect one’s daily activities, if so which ones, description of one‘s drinking type, how many drinks one consumes per week/night, taken any precautions to guarantee intoxication, whether or not one is a binge drinker or not, and if alcohol influences one to regret something.

A significant variables measured is the age of the students consuming alcohol. This is because of the legal drinking age being twenty one years of age. Obviously, it is not legal for people under twenty-one years of age to consume alcohol; therefore college students that are not all of legal of age and don’t have the right to consume alcohol. Nevertheless, because underclassmen and upperclassmen are living intermixed within the dormitories, it makes it easier for underage students to acquire alcoholic beverages.

The amount of alcohol that college students consume is another variable that my group and I considered to be central. The quantity and volume of alcohol consumed by a person determines whether they are heavy drinkers or social drinkers, as well as, if the drinking behavior is considered binge drinking. Binge drinking is classified as consuming five or more drinks in a row for men and four or more drinks in a row for a female

Personally, I was interested in the reasons why college students utilize alcohol. The obvious explanations for college students drinking alcohol are: to become loose and relaxed, to be able to communicate with others, to take one’s mind off problems, or perhaps because of peer pressures faced. Additionally, I wanted to know why students drink, for example, do students drink socially, during depression or for fun. What direct my attention to questioning whether or not the students surveyed were commuters or residents, and further questioning if the students that do live on campus were located in the underclassman dormitories or the upperclassman dormitories is because I’ve made my own observations having lived on a college campus the last four years of my life? I’ve observed and encountered myself the many freedoms and perks one gets from living on campus rather than off campus at home or in an apartment, while attending college.

As a freshman the students who entered into residence life are straight out of high school. These students are not mixing with other students with varying ages ranging from seventeen to twenty-three; twenty-four if there here earning a master’s degree. Therefore, that leaves room for a wide range of different influences because of the different ages. In high school age range only varied from fifteen to, give or take nineteen or twenty. From the very first day of the semester to the end of the semester, resources for obtaining alcohol aren’t hard to come by, when living on a college campus rather than commuting from home or off campus apartment.

Students residing on campus become familiar with other resident students around them that are of the legal age to purchase alcohol. They then become friends and begin bonding. In no time, legal age alcohol buyers are taking orders from the underage drinker and purchasing them their alcohol. While living at home, more obstacles are set in place and make getting alcohol a much harder task. The commuter has to take into consideration that they have to go back to their own home where their parents reside not their own dorm room with only roommates to bear in mind. Also, students who live on campus while at college are subjected to the peer pressures of the college environment. Since students live in relatively close establishments most of the time, unless they vacate for weekends, it becomes a challenge to avoid the pressures/temptations of drinking alcohol. The most sought out feature of living on campus is ones autonomy from parental authority. Commuters aren’t on campus at all time; therefore they are not as heavily influenced as resident students are. Resident students don’t have to worry about getting home or traveling off campus for any reason because they can pass out in their dormitory, however a commuter student can’t drink heavily if at all because eventually they have to drive home.

Through conducting my survey I had encountered a tiny problem with unfinished surveys. Some volunteers would start the survey and then fail to completely answer all questions, or randomly neglect to answer some only answering others. Also, when given the choice of “other”, some responses were hard to categorize or be made useful. In this specific study there weren’t any ethical concerns. The survey didn’t pose any threat to any participants. The participants were also informed that the survey would be anonymous and posed no risk of injury.

Findings

Once the survey was closed off and no longer can there be any additional participants; fifty people started the survey, while forty-eight people actually complete the survey. There were twenty male participants and thirty female participants. However, like previously stated not all fifty participants completed the survey. Thirty-four people surveyed were twenty-one years of age or older, leaving 16 people surveyed representing ages less than twenty-one years of age. In terms of residing on campus or commuting to campus, 44% of participants represent student’s part of resident’s life and 56% represented students who commute to classes each day. (See Appendix C- E)

When it came to answering general drinking questions, four specific questions pertaining to my purpose for researching drinking behaviors amongst college student, only having a response from forty-six people due to four people skipping these particular questions. When asked how many drinks typically consumed over a week’s time 7% accounted for those who don’t have any drinks during a typical week. 59% responded to anywhere from one to seven drinks a week, followed by 13% of participants drinking eight to fourteen drinks a week and sixteen or more drinks customarily in a duration of a week, whereas, 9% have about fifteen to twenty-one drinks. When asked what were one’s reason for drinking alcohol: 54% indicated that they drink to become loose and relaxed, 46% drink to be able to socialize, 20% drink to take their mind off of their problems, 4% drink due to peer pressure, and 37% specify drinking for other reasons. 9% out of the 37% assert drinking for fun, while the other 28% accounts for illegitimate explanations as to why they consume alcohol. (See Appendix F-G)

When posed the question, asking to describe the type of drinker one is thirty-two of the forty-six people who responded considered themselves social drinkers, seven found themselves moderate drinkers, five thought of themselves as heavy drinkers. Out of the two participants that chose other as their descriptive response their answers qualify them as social drinkers, rarely drinking and when doing so only on special occasions socially. Finally, in attempts to gather whether or not college students who drink, binge drink, results conclude that thirty-eight of forty-six participants represent the majority having answering yes, while 8 participants answered no.

(See Appendix H )

Discussion

In conclusion, once the survey results were scrutinize, one can grasp the various practices and drinking tendencies that students at St. Thomas Aquinas College own. There were more female than male surveyed, with more than half of those surveyed were of the legal drinking age set by the law. My findings address the fact that, more commuting students populated this survey than resident students and the number of typical drinks per week consumed by students are between one to seven drinks on average. Majority of the students surveyed also thought themselves to be a social type drinker compared to a moderate, heavy or other and all but eight responders thought themselves to have had binge drink, which can led one to concur that binge drinking is a reoccurrence in their lives considering the mainstream drinks roughly one to seven drinks a week.

After examining the results further one can distinguish that many students fixed that they consumed alcohol to become loose and relaxed. All but one participant drank before they were legally permitted and this only goes to show, “where there is a will, there is a way”. This confirms that whether residing on campus or off campus, one less than the whole served will have consumed alcohol before it was permissible by law.

My finders were, for the most part, exactly what I imagined then to be. The only unforeseen result was that the survey populous was that of commuting students rather than residing students. I feel that college campus’ have an intoxicating environment, literally, towards everyone regardless of gender, age, living arrangements on or off campus. Students who want to drink will drink, students who don’t won’t unless feeling pressured into doing so.