Alcoholism in College Students: Statistics, Risks, and Prevention

Harmful and underage college drinking are significant public health problems, exacting an enormous toll on the lives of students across the United States. Drinking at college has become a ritual that students may see as an integral part of their higher education experience. Some students come to college with established drinking habits, and the college environment can exacerbate these issues, leading to significant problems.

Prevalence of Alcohol Use Among College Students

Rates of alcohol consumption continue to be a concern, particularly for individuals who are college age. According to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 49.3% of full-time college students ages 18 to 22 drank alcohol in the past month. Binge drinking, defined as consuming five or more drinks on an occasion for men and four or more drinks on an occasion for women, was reported by 27.4% of college students during the same time frame. Some college students drink at least twice that amount, a behavior that is often called high-intensity drinking.

Data from the 2022 National College Health Assessment by the American College Health Association (ACHA) indicates that 71% of students reported having drunk alcohol in their lifetime. Among those who had drunk alcohol in the past year, 44% intended on getting drunk the last time they drank alcohol. Furthermore, over half (55.5%) of students who reported drinking in the past three months had a strong desire or urge to drink alcohol, with about 17% reporting this urge weekly.

Trends in College Drinking Over Time

Survey results indicate that the rate of self-reported college student binge drinking in the previous 2 weeks dropped from 44% in 1980 to 40% in 1993 and continued to decrease through 2014 (35%). Despite this trend, rates still remain high, with 30% to 40% of young adults reporting binge drinking at least once in the previous month.

Since 1980, the annual prevalence of alcohol use among college students has decreased by nearly 15 percentage points (from 90.5% to 76.7%). However, between 2015 and 2020, alcohol use among college students has stayed more consistent, ranging between 74.6% to 79%.

Binge drinking among college students saw a historic low during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (just 28% of students reported binge drinking). The percentage has since rebounded to pre-pandemic levels (32%) in 2021. Still, binge drinking levels have decreased over the past 10 years, from 35.5% in 2011 to 32% in 2021. High-intensity drinking, however, has increased in that same time frame. The percentage of college students reporting having 10 or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks has increased from 11% in 2011 to 13.1% in 2021.

Factors Influencing Student Drinking

Although some students come to college already having some experience with alcohol, certain aspects of college life can lead to a problem. These factors include:

Unstructured time
Widespread availability of alcohol
Inconsistent enforcement of underage drinking laws
Limited interactions with parents and other adults

The first six weeks of freshman year are a vulnerable time for heavy drinking and alcohol-related consequences because of student expectations and social pressures at the start of the academic year. Factors related to specific college environments also are significant. Students attending schools with strong Greek systems or prominent athletic programs tend to drink more than students at other types of schools. In terms of living arrangements, alcohol consumption is highest among students living in fraternities and sororities and lowest among commuting students who live with their families.

Consequences of Harmful and Underage College Drinking

Drinking affects college students, their families, and college communities. These consequences can be severe and wide-ranging.

Death

The most recent statistics from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) estimate that about 1,519 college students ages 18 to 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes.

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Assault and Sexual Assault

The most recent NIAAA statistics estimate that about 696,000 students ages 18 to 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking. Estimating the number of alcohol-related sexual assaults is exceptionally challenging, but research has confirmed a long-standing finding that 1 in 5 college women experience sexual assault during their time in college. A majority of sexual assaults in college involve alcohol or other substances.

Academic Problems

About one in four college students report experiencing academic difficulties from drinking, such as missing class or getting behind in schoolwork. In a national survey, college students who binge drank alcohol at least three times per week were roughly six times more likely to perform poorly on a test or project as a result of drinking (40 percent vs. 7 percent) than students who drank but never binged. The students who binge drank were also five times more likely to have missed a class (64 percent vs. 12 percent).

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)

Roughly 13.0% of college students meet the criteria for AUD.

Other Consequences

Other consequences include suicide attempts, health problems, injuries, unsafe sexual behavior, and driving under the influence of alcohol, as well as vandalism, damage, and involvement with the police.

Alcohol-Related Consequences: A Closer Look

A study led by Penn State University followed 1,700 students for four years, surveying them twice a year, and found that the average number of alcohol-related consequences per student over the four-year period was 102. The amount of alcohol students drank impacted the total number of consequences they experienced. The most common consequence, with 96.7% of respondents experiencing it at least once during the four years, was ‘having a hangover the morning after drinking.’ This was followed by ‘saying or doing embarrassing things,’ which affected 96.1% of respondents at least once.

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Specific Consequences Detailed by the ACHA

According to the ACHA, browning out refers to when someone forgets where they were or what they did for a short period of time while drinking but can recall those events when someone else reminds them. Blacking out refers to when a person drinks so much that they forget where they were and what they did for large amounts of time.

Nearly a quarter of college students (24.2%) who drink alcohol reported browning out while drinking.
About 13% of students blacked out while drinking in the past 12 months.
1.9% of college students who drink alcohol reported that someone had raped them when they were under the influence.
12.3% reported having unprotected sex while drinking.
Over 20% of college drinkers reported doing something that they later regretted while drinking.
Out of the undergraduate students who drank alcohol within the past year, 3% seriously considered suicide while under the influence.
Only about 1% of undergraduates reported getting in trouble with their college while drinking in the past year.

College Students and Binge Drinking

A large percentage of college students consume alcohol by binge drinking. For men, binge drinking involves drinking five or more alcoholic beverages in two hours. On the other hand, binge drinking for women is considered four or more drinks within a two-hour time period. The high-risk period of binge drinking for college students is during the first six weeks of their freshman year. Many of these students fall into peer pressure and begin drinking soon after the first day of classes.

Changing Drinking Patterns

Within the last couple of decades, college students have started consuming more hard liquor than beer. Rather than drinking to socialize, an increasing number of young adults are drinking to get drunk. Since liquor has one of the highest alcohol percentages by volume, it takes fewer drinks to feel its effects. The end goal for some is to drink as much as possible or black out. These outcomes are extremely dangerous and can possibly lead to life-threatening effects, such as alcohol poisoning.

The Dangers of College Alcoholism

College alcoholism affects millions of students every year. The college years are some of the most popular times to experiment with alcohol. Roughly 80% of college students consume alcohol to some degree, and it’s estimated that 50% of those students engage in binge drinking. What may start out as one drink can quickly turn into two, three or more. Drinking week after week causes the body to start building a tolerance to alcohol. This means it will require you to drink more in order to get the same high. Frequent heavy drinking greatly increases your chance of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD), which can cause serious physical and emotional damage.

Addressing College Drinking: Prevention and Intervention

Ongoing research continues to improve our understanding of how to address the persistent and costly problem of harmful and underage student drinking. Successful efforts typically involve a mix of strategies that target individual students, the student body as a whole, and the broader college community.

Strategies Targeting Individual Students

Individual-level interventions target students, including those in higher risk groups such as first-year students, student athletes, members of Greek organizations, and mandated students. The interventions are designed to change student knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to alcohol so they drink less, take fewer risks, and experience fewer harmful consequences. Categories of individual-level interventions include:

Education and awareness programs
Cognitive-behavioral skills-based approaches
Motivation and feedback-related approaches
Behavioral interventions by health professionals

Strategies Targeting the Campus and Surrounding Community

Environmental-level strategies target the campus community and student body as a whole. They are designed to change the campus and community environments where student drinking occurs. Often, a major goal is to reduce the availability of alcohol because research shows that reducing alcohol availability cuts consumption and harmful consequences on campuses as well as in the general population. The researchers recommend several strategies for mitigating alcohol-related harms, including:

Place-based initiatives that reduce alcohol consumption in university housing
Targeted interventions with members of Greek life and student athletes
Greater use of evidence-based strategies to reduce and prevent alcohol consumption, including screening with personalized and normative feedback, limits on happy hours and drink-price discounting, and raising state alcohol taxes.

Choosing the Right College

Like many parents, you may be doing some research on colleges and universities. During your research, it's essential to remember a key issue, one that influences college students' quality of life every day: the culture of drinking at colleges in the United States. An "Animal House" environment may seem exciting to students at first, but nothing affects health, safety, and academic performance more than a culture of alcohol misuse. Be sure that each school has created solid alcohol policies and is enforcing underage drinking laws.

What Can Parents Do?

An often-overlooked preventive factor involves the continuing influence of parents-even into the college years. Research shows that students who choose not to drink often do so because their parents discussed alcohol use and its adverse consequences with them. Parents can help by:

Talking with students about the dangers of harmful and underage college drinking
Making sure students read and understand the school’s alcohol policy
Providing ongoing support to students during the school year
Learning about and supporting the school’s alcohol prevention efforts
Understanding the school’s rules for notifying parents in the event of a problem
Making sure students know signs of alcohol overdose or an alcohol-related problem, and how to get help

CollegeAIM: The College Alcohol Intervention Matrix

Revised and updated in 2020, CollegeAIM rates more than 60 alcohol interventions for effectiveness, cost, and other factors-and presents the information in a user-friendly and accessible way. In general, the most effective interventions in CollegeAIM represent a range of counseling options and policies related to sales and access. After analyzing alcohol problems at their own schools, officials can use the CollegeAIM ratings to find the best combination of interventions for their students and unique circumstances.

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