Do Substance-Free Dorms Work?
They Work Best for Those Who Make the Choice
The policy of establishing substance-free dormitories seems to be having some effect in cutting down on the problem of excessive drinking on college campuses, at least for students who choose to live in them.The Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study has released a new study that shows that substance-free college residence halls are making an impact in reducing heavy drinking.
Students who live in substanceâ€"free college residences were three-fifths less likely to engage in heavy episodic drinking, compared with students living in unrestricted residences. They also experienced fewer alcohol-related problems. But there is a difference between "substance-free" and "alcohol-free" residences.
They also experienced fewer secondhand effects of alcohol use by other students than residents of unrestricted housing, probably due to the lower drinking rates of the residents.
Secondhand Effects
"While the difference in heavy episodic drinking rates may be due to the self-selection of determined non-drinkers into these residences, the lower rates may also be due to the influence that such an environment has on students," the study reports. Heavy episodic drinkers are men who had five or more â€" or women who had four or more â€" drinks in a row at least once in the two weeks prior to the survey."The best bet for students who come into college and want to avoid the secondhand effects of drinking, like having their studying interrupted or having property vandalized, is to request substance-free residences," said Henry Wechsler, Ph.D., the study's lead author and director of College Alcohol Studies at the Harvard School of Public Health in a news release. "While some heavy episodic drinkers live in these residences, it's clear that students who live there experience fewer alcohol-related problems than those who live in unrestricted housing."
"Another encouraging finding in this work is that students in substance-free housing were less likely to ride with a drunk driver," said Wechsler, "and were no more likely to get behind the wheel after drinking than residents of unrestricted housing." This finding suggests that students living in substance-free housing are not simply driving to drink at other locations.
The results were strongest for those who did not engage in heavy drinking during high school, Wechsler said. "By not exposing incoming students to the drinking that exists in residences on some college campuses, students may be less inclined to pick up these behaviors," he said.
Alcohol Free
This study is based on questions from the 1999 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study</1>, which surveyed more than 14,000 college students at 119 nationally representative, four-year colleges in 39 states. The survey indicated that 32.3 percent of students living in substance-free residences drank heavily, compared to 52.6 percent in unrestricted housing.For the purposes of the survey, "substance free" residences meant those where neither alcohol or smoking was allowed. Some students lived in "substance free" residences while others lived in "alcohol free" only residences, meaning that smoking was allowed. Surprisingly, residents of alcohol-free (but smoking) housing were just as likely to be heavily involved in alcohol use as students in unrestricted housing. In fact, 54.8 percent of students living in these residences were heavy episodic drinkers.
Wechsler offers a possible explanation for this result. "Students living in alcohol-free housing may be automatically assigned there, as in the case of freshmen or underage students. Their living arrangements may not be a matter of individual choice, whereas residents of substance-free housing may choose their living quarters and may be more determined to intentionally place themselves in an environment where drinking and smoking are not widely accepted."
Currently only three out of five colleges nationally offer some type of alcohol-free living arrangement, student demand for substance-free residences continues to rise -- faster than college have been able to provide them.
Choices are the Key
"Every incoming college student who requests substance-free housing should be able to obtain it," said Wechsler.Joining Dr. Wechsler as authors of the article, "Drinking Levels, Alcohol Problems, and Secondhand Effects in Substance-Free College Residences," were Jae Eun Lee, Dr.P.H.; Toben F. Nelson, M.S.; and Hang Lee, Ph.D. (Center for Vaccine Research & Department of Pediatrics, University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine in Torrance).
This is the first study that took a national look at the relationship between substanceâ€"free dorms and the effects of alcohol on college campuses, according to the news release. The study appears in the January 2001 issue (volume 62, number 1) of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and was funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Substanceâ€"free housing was defined as college residences that prohibit both alcohol use and smoking.
In addition to the lower rates of secondhand effects, students living in substance-free housing were less likely to experience alcohol-related problems, such as getting behind in schoolwork, damaging property, getting into trouble with campus or local police, doing something they regretted or arguing with friends.
University administrators have made various attempts to reduce heavy episodic drinking and its secondhand effects among their students. One approach is to designate residence halls or certain floors as substance-free, and the authors recommend that substance-free housing be offered to all students who request it.
