As alcohol-related deaths among college students continuing to increase each year, university officials and health researchers throughout the country continue to try to identify efforts that will reduce and prevent drinking problems. With the help of National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) researchers, some prevention efforts have been found to help.But alcohol-related deaths among U.S. college students rose from 1,440 deaths in 1998 to 1,825 in 2005.
Not only did deaths increase between 1998 and 2005, but the percentage of students who drink heavily and the number who admit drinking and driving also increased, according to government statistics.
Binge Drinking Increases
The number of students who reported heavy drinking increased from around 42% to 45%, and the percentage who admitted to drinking and driving in the past year increased from 26.5% to 29%.
"These are tragically and unacceptably high figures that indicate an urgent need for colleges and surrounding communities to implement evidence-based prevention and counseling programs," said Dr. Ralph W. Hingson, director of NIAAA's Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research, in a news release.
College Programs That Work
As part of the Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems Initiative, researchers studied a wide variety of programs aimed at reducing harmful drinking. Here are some of the programs they studied:
- University of Central Florida: Researchers found that brief motivation interviews conducted in a college health clinic were effective in reducing alcohol consumption and drinking-related problems.
- Northeastern University: Students who received one-on-one counseling after alcohol and drug violations were drinking less six month later compared to those who did not receive the counseling.
- Loyola Marymount University: College women who took part in a motivational-enhancement group intervention as freshmen were drinking less 10 weeks later, but not six months later.
- Rhode Island and Washington: Two studies found that programs in which colleges worked with surrounding communities to target student drinking were effective in reductions in heavy drinking and off-campus alcohol-related incidents.
The studies were published in a special July 2009 supplement of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
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