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Binge Drinking among College Students

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Binge Drinking among College Students
December 05, 2011

Binge Drinking Among College Students and Consequences
Audience-(Student Fraternity and College Administrators) Binge drinking is a problem that has continued to have a toll on the lives of college students despite efforts by the government and school administrators to curb the trend. Many studies have been conducted to reveal the facts behind binge drinking in colleges and campuses. It is clear that for the problem of binge drinking in colleges to be resolved, it must all start by understanding the factors that influence college students to engage in this behaviour and the impacts that binge drinking have had on the lives of college students. This is because students who do engage in binge drinking have their reasons to justify their behaviour but often have failed to recognize the magnitude of risks that they are exposed to by binge drinking. Among the government initiatives to reduce this problem has been to increase the national drinking age though this has not had much impact on the level of binge drinking among college students according to several studies. It is worth noting that many students have been indulging in binge drinking with the excuse that it is normal as per the culture in their colleges. There are other factors that influence college students to binge drink including environmental, social, developmental, and cognitive factors. Though most students who binge drink defend their behaviour by citing the positive side of binge drinking such as curbing stress and elevating self-confidence, the consequences are often costly and regrettable. This essay provides an argument on the factors that influence college students to indulge in binge drinking, including the various false beliefs about alcohol consumption. In addition, the essay will shed light on the consequences of binge drinking and show that contrary to the tendency of college students to glamorize binge drinking, it is a risky and costly endeavour.



Bibliography: 2. DeSimone, Jeff. Binge Drinking and Risky Sex among College Students. 2010. Web 25 Nov 2011 . 3. Dietz, Christine M. "Development of Binge Drinking Behavior in College Students: A Developmental Analysis." Graduate Journal of Counseling Psychology (2008): 1(1), pp. 86-96. 5. Hensley, Laura G. "College Student Binge Drinking: Implications for a Constructivist Approach to College Counseling." Journal of College Counseling (2001): Vol 4. 6. Hope, Debra A and Lindsay S Ham. "College students and problematic drinking: A review of the literature." Clinical Psychology Review (2003): Vol 23, pp. 719-759. 7. Krock, Becca. Higher drinking age lowers binge drinking for all except college students. 2009. Web 25 Nov 2011 . 8. Nelson, Toben F and Henry Wechsler. "Binge Drinking and the American College Student: What 's Five Drink?" Psychology of Addictive Behaviours (2001): 15(4), pp. 287-291. 9. Turrisi, Rob, Kimberly A Wiersma and Kelli K Hughes. "Binge-Drinking-Related Consequences in College Students: Role of Drinking Beliefs and Mother-Teen Communications." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (2000): 14(4), 342-355. 10. Wechsler, Henry. Binge Drinking on America 's College Campuses. 2009. Web 25 Nov 2011 .

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