The line between social and binge drinking

The Panther Online

by Emiko Kaneoka

September 24, 2017

When sophomore Sienna Newton goes out with friends, she likes to drink. The psychology and strategic and corporate communication major said she drinks about once a week with her friends, and can consume about six drinks in one night. At her worst, she will feel too hungover the next day to be productive, she said.

“I think I’m just a casual drinker. I don’t think it’s a problem as long as you don’t binge drink constantly,” Newton said.

Although Newton is typically able to stop at six drinks, she can still be considered a binge drinker. Binge drinking occurs when blood alcohol content levels reach 0.08 grams per deciliter, which is typically after four drinks for women and five for men, according to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Almost 60 percent of college students reported drinking alcohol in the past month and nearly two-thirds of them were binge drinking, according to a 2014 national survey by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

. At Chapman, 47.4 percent of all alcohol-related incidents in the fall 2016 semester occurred in the first month, according to data provided by Chief of Public Safety Randy Burba. Burba reported that 11 alcohol-related incidents have taken place since the beginning of the semester, in late August.

These incidents include minors in possession of alcohol, medical aids involving alcohol intoxication, alcohol-related ambulance transports, public intoxication, student policy violations – like empty alcohol containers in dorm rooms – and providing alcohol to a minor.

Newton said that binge drinking in college is “not a secret,” which is why Rape Crisis Counselor Dani Smith hosts Healthy Panther sessions every year during Orientation Week to warn new students about the risks of excessive alcohol and drug use in social settings.

“Alcohol doesn’t cause bad things to happen,” Smith told The Panther. “Alcohol makes people vulnerable.”

Binge drinking can be especially dangerous for freshmen, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The first six weeks of a student’s first year is “a vulnerable time for heavy drinking and alcohol-related consequences because of student expectations and social pressures at the start of the academic year,” the institute said.

Newton said that some of her peers freshman year felt pressure to binge drink in order to explore their newfound freedom away from home.

“For some people, it’s their first time drinking and it is connected with adulthood and making your own decisions,” Newton said. “Some people might think that you look cool and older if you drink.”

Smith attributes the number of first-month incidents to “the college effect,” which she cites in her dissertation as “the increased and excessive use of alcohol by first-year college students residing in dorms when compared to same-age peers not attending college.”

“Mom and dad aren’t here to be hall monitor to make sure they are behaving,” Smith said. “I think too much freedom too soon without practice with healthy coping skills can set students up to get in trouble.”