Unlike a popular game such as Monopoly, most people do not learn of drinking games such as beer pong until they enter college. And in recent years, experts have found the increasing popularity of the games is in line with the increasing prevalence of alcohol abuse.
National studies conducted on college students show that alcohol abuse is most prevalent in younger students, while UCLA students tend to drink the most during their later years of school.
The same studies conclude that the reasons for excessive alcohol abuse can be attributed to students’ overestimation of alcohol use among their peers.
The danger is not in the overall amount of alcohol college students drink, but the amount they drink in a single sitting, said Scott Walters, assistant professor of behavioral sciences at the University of Texas School of Public Health.
“Adults may have one or two drinks a day, whereas college students are more likely to save up their drinks and drink them all at once,” said Walters, co-author of “Talking with College Students About Alcohol: Motivational Strategies for Reducing Abuse.” “This is part of what makes college drinking so risky.”
Binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks in one sitting.
Studies show binge drinking is most common among college students during their first two years of school.
A major contributor to underage binge drinking is the assumption by underclassmen that this drinking pattern is the custom among most students, Walters said.
“First- and second-year college students are more likely to misperceive the drinking norms on campus,” Walters added. “They see a lot of other students drinking, so they think that’s what college students are supposed to do.”
The frequency of drinking among younger students may also be influenced by environmental factors.
“First-year students may take part in binge drinking because it is perceived as an acceptable behavior in the setting that they are in,” said Dr. Martin Anderson, director of adolescent medicine and professor of pediatrics at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.
The lack of formal adult supervision and the newfound independence may even lead some students to falsely believe that it is legal to drink in this setting, even if they are under 21, Anderson added.
Matthew Bral, a fourth-year psychology student, said he drank more during the first two years of college.
“I rarely drink that much now. I may have a beer every once in a while, but it’s definitely decreased recently because I needed to shift my focus on upper-division classes.”
Studies show on average, binge drinking usually begins to decrease by the age of 21.
“By the time students reach the legal drinking age, they don’t feel the need to drink just because they have access to alcohol,” Walters said. “As students move through their college career, they tend to focus more on their studies, so excessive drinking begins to decrease midway through college.”
But while national averages show that binge drinking is prevalent among college students, some schools, specifically urban schools on the West Coast such as UCLA, have lower drinking levels overall compared to other regions, said Pamela Viele, interim executive director for student development and health at the Student Affairs office.
Also different among UCLA students is the age level at which binge drinking is most common.
A UCLA study by the Ashe Center in 2002 showed that UCLA students were least likely participate in binge drinking during their first two years.
“I believe that UCLA students are in fact more mindful of the legal drinking age, and the increase in alcohol consumption as students get older is largely due to their being able to legally obtain alcohol,” Viele said.
The report indicates that students’ drinking patterns change as they become more integrated into the social atmosphere of college.
UCLA students drink most during their third and fourth years, and these older students tend to overestimate the amount of drinking done by their peers, the study said.
Consistent with the study’s findings, Katie Conway, a fourth-year communication studies student, said she began to drink more frequently after turning 21.
“(It was) because I was able to buy alcohol and get into bars legally, which made things easier,” Conway said.
Aside from factors influencing drinking habits that occur as students get older, each individual’s social sphere may also affect his or her choices with respect to alcohol use.
“Students’ impressions on the drinking habits of their peers are largely based on subjective information, not subjective data, and they tend to only hear about specific circumstances,” Viele said. “These colorful stories are what the students tend to remember most.”
“Students don’t hear about the responsible drinkers. Instead, they hear about an exceptional circumstance and assume that it’s more common than it really is,” she added.