College Drinking, Deaths Still Increasing

In spite of stepped up interventions and prevention programs, alcohol-related deaths, binge drinking and drunk driving have all increased on college campuses during the past decade. The increases are discouraging to advocates who have worked to cut back harmful alcohol consumption by college students.

The good news is some intervention programs that do work have been identified over the past 10 years, they just haven't been widely implemented.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) report revealed the following:

• Drinking-related accidental deaths among 18- to 24-year-old students increased from 1,440 in 1998 to 1,825 in 2005.

• Students who reported binge drinking increased from about 42% to 45%.

• Students who admitted to driving under the influence in the past year increased from 26.5% to 29%.

"The fact that we're not making progress is very concerning," says lead researcher Ralph Hingson, director of the NIAAA's division of epidemiology and prevention research. "The irony is that during this same time period, our knowledge of what works as far as intervention in this age group has increased. That knowledge isn't yet being put into place."

NIAAA researchers published their findings in a special supplemental issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. The studies were funded by the NIAAA's Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems initiative which was carried out on 15 college campuses with serious student-drinking problems.

The researchers conclude that the problem of college drinking is not going away, but to reduce harm efforts need to be launched on as many levels as possible. Here are some highlights of their findings:

Colleges, Communities Combat Off-Campus Student Drinking
An alcohol control program that involves the college and the community can lead to a decline in heavy student drinking, researchers found. The police increased patrols in neighborhoods known for loud and sometimes dangerous college parties.

Prevention of Dangerous Drinking Is Possible, Studies Suggest
Drinking is seen as part and parcel of college life, but there are programs that can significantly reduce risky drinking, including counseling for individual students with drinking problems to programs that involved the neighborhoods surrounding college campuses.

"There's no silver bullet for this," Hingson said, "But the more levels at which we try to intervene, the more effective we'll be. Colleges and communities need to work together, because neither can do it alone."

More About College Drinking:

• Combined Intervention Method Reduces College Drinking
  
• College Binge Drinking Kills
  
• College Drinking More Dangerous Than Reported
  
• Alcohol Abuse Screening Test

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