Harvard study cites rise in binge drinking

by Renee Tomcanin percent in J993.

staffwriter Health educator Karen Pollack disagrees with several of the aspects of the study. First, she believes that the definition of binge drinking is not accurate. "Consider a 200 pound man who drinks five beers over the period of five hours. Is he a binge drinker?"

Drinking on college campuses has increased to extremes, according to a study conducted by Harvard University.The study noted a rise in both students who binge drink and those who once did not drink at all.

Binge drinking is defined by a conducted study where a male has five or more drinks in a single sitting. It is four or more for a female. Twenty-three percent of students said they fit this definition, up from 20 percent in 1993.

On the opposite end of the scale, 19percent of students said they abstain from using alcohol completely. This number is up from 16

As far as Cabrini goes, Pollack says that it is too early to tell. They are still in the process of gathering the information from the core survey done on campus a few weeks ago.

Several Cabrini students commented on the results of the study.A few offered reasons as to why binge drinking is up and solutions to reducing the percentage. "Bing<! drinking is up because students have nothing better to do," said Woodcrest resident assistant Corinne O'Connell. Senior Jessica Webb also noted drinking games and easy access to beer as reasons students would drink larger amounts more often.

Tara Taylor, a first year student, said, "When people don't drink before college, they are more likely to try it in this environment."

Junior John Wood gave suggestions on how to prevent binge drinking. "Bars on campus would be a solution. That way the college could control, to an extent, where and how much people aredrinking."

First year student Missie Digiulio suggested lowering the drinking age to 18 because having it at 21 encourages underage college students to drink.. According to the survey, "the average price of a glass of beer consumed by participants was only 25 cents." Raising prices could discourage students from drinking so much so fast.

Pollack suggests instead of focusing on the binge drinking, there should be more interest in those students who do not drink. "There should be emphasis on this silent group who are drinking responsibly or not at all," she said.

The results of the Cabrini survey should be available either at the end of this semester or at the beginning to see if Cabrini's number compared to those of the rest of the nation.