October 21, 1999
ANN ARBOR— University of Michigan students are experiencing a variety of negative consequences---personal, academic and social---because of binge-drinking behavior, according to the results of a survey released today (Oct. 21) during National Alcohol Awareness Week.
Conducted last spring by the U-M Substance Abuse Research Center (UMSARC), the Student Life Survey received confidential responses from a total of 2,824 students, including 2,041 undergraduates. The principal investigator for the study was Carol J. Boyd, associate professor of nursing and women’s studies and director of UMSARC. Co- investigator was Sean Esteban McCabe, a U-M graduate student and former director of the Office of Student Conflict Resolution.
"Our study indicates that binge drinking among our students remains a major health and safety concern on our campus," Boyd said.
The students surveyed reported consequences, including missing class or work due to drinking; performing poorly on a test or important project; physical effects including hangovers, nausea or vomiting, and memory loss; being sexually harassed or assaulted while drunk, or harassing or assaulting others; getting into arguments and fights, or being embarrassed by their own behavior while drunk; damaging property; getting hurt or injured after drinking; driving a car under the influence of alcohol or being arrested for DUI; and generally getting into trouble with the police or University authorities. The study indicates that as the number of binge-drinking episodes increase, the consequences become more frequent and more severe.
In addition, Boyd said, students' drinking behavior has a negative impact on their friends, roommates and other students around them, who may lose sleep or class time caring for drunk or ill students or who may bear the brunt of their dangerous, argumentative or violent behavior.
Nancy Cantor, U-M provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, pointed to the survey’s results as a report by the students of the negative academic consequences of binge drinking, their own and others. "The results suggest that many of our students are concerned about interference in the academic and social environment caused by binge drinking. The highest priority of our University community should be to work together, all of us, to create an environment that is healthy, safe and conducive to learning, one where each of our students can do their very best work," Cantor said.
The survey's findings show that 45 percent of U-M undergraduate students---the majority of whom are under age 21---are binge drinking, about at the national average of 43 percent as measured in a 1997 Harvard study, and an increase from a similar U-M study done in 1993. Forty-one percent of undergraduates said they were drinking to get drunk and 72 percent increased their use of alcohol once they arrived on campus.
However, Boyd cautioned, the results from the 1993 and 1999 U-M surveys are not directly comparable. "There are two major differences in the surveys that we think had a strong impact on the results," she said. "First, the definition of binge drinking for women was changed from five drinks in a sitting to four, taking physiological characteristics more into account.
"Second, this was an Internet-based survey, rather than a pencil and paper one, and each respondent's answers went directly into a database. In general, we think the improved confidentiality of our method this year inclined students to respond with more candor."
The study shows that, in general, 83 percent of students surveyed described themselves as light to moderate drinkers and 4 percent identified themselves as heavy drinkers; however, 45 percent admitted to having at least one binge drinking episode in the past two weeks. "This indicates that at least some students believe that binge drinking is still moderate drinking, a perception that may not be shared by their parents or the public," Boyd said.
Another finding which Boyd said indicates a serious misperception is that undergraduates consider it a greater risk to have one or two drinks nearly every day than to have four, five or more drinks once or twice each weekend.
Royster Harper, U-M interim vice president for student affairs, said the message from the survey is that there is a subset of the University community whose behavior is endangering themselves and interfering with the education of others. "We need to foster the notion of a caring community where students will not only be comfortable seeking help for those around them, but also letting fellow students know when their behavior is causing problems. Everyone in our community pays a price for binge drinking."
According to Boyd, the sense of a caring community showed up in some of the more positive findings from the survey. "Ninety-five percent of our respondents said they support taking car keys away from someone who is drunk, and 80 percent support not serving drinks to drunk people. Ninety-five percent also think it's unacceptable to pressure others to drink. I think that's encouraging," she said.
Cantor and Harper said the findings of the survey will be used to more precisely shape University programs and interventions on alcohol and substance abuse.
Cantor said the Provost's Office will collaborate with the schools and colleges to develop and advance academic interventions. These include working with academic advisers, educating faculty and graduate student instructors in alcohol and substance abuse issues, integrating these materials into the curriculum wherever appropriate, and increasing the number of Friday classes where possible. These were among the recommendations of the Binge Drinking Committee (BDC) in a report released this summer.
Addressing another BDC recommendation, Harper announced that she will appoint a new Alcohol and Other Drugs Committee which will work to make the campus' varied alcohol policies more consistent with each other and with the Student Code of Conduct.
Regular assessment of intervention effectiveness was also recommended by the BDC. "We are committed to repeating the Student Life Survey every two to three years so that we know where we stand," Harper said.
One of the more controversial issues to be resolved is whether the University will notify parents of students with alcohol-related problems allowed---not mandated---by an amendment to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act passed by Congress in 1998. "As with all of the efforts we make to address binge drinking, students will be heavily involved in this decision," Harper said. "Their ideas and energy are vital to this process if it is to be effective."
Contact: Joel Seguine
Phone: (734) 936-6396
E-mail: jseguine@umich.edu
Web: http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/