Nearly three-quarters of college students who drink alcohol take some type of precaution to keep themselves safe, according to a study presented this week at the National Social Norms Conference in Denver.
The national study found that half of student drinkers sometimes choose to abstain at parties and that 73 percent of students who decide to drink do something to keep themselves safe. The precautions include avoiding drinking games, pacing their drinking and counting the number of drinks they have had.
Universities beset with alcohol- related problems could have more success in their efforts to curb binge drinking if they emphasize positive statistics on student alcohol use, said Michael Haines, director of the National Social Norms Resource Center, which conducted the study.
“All of the evidence suggest we have too great a focus on those with the problems and too little a focus on those with the solutions,” Haines said.
The study examined the responses of more than 28,000 students at 44 colleges and universities surveyed for the National College Health Assessment. The University of Colorado and Colorado State University participated, but the data did not break down numbers by university.
Haines and other adherents believe emphasizing that many students are relatively responsible drinkers will eliminate the “false peer pressure” to binge drink – a strategy called “social norms.” Haines said members of fraternities and sororities don’t drink as much as their peers believe.
“We found … that people don’t realize what the true norms and behaviors are,” he said. “Their behaviors are shaped by misperception of the norms.”
However, the social norms approach is not without debate. In 2003, Harvard University’s College Alcohol Study released a report saying universities that used social norms techniques saw no drop in student drinking. In some cases, student drinking increased.
“We did not find that the method reduced drinking at colleges,” said Henry Wechsler, who heads the Harvard study.
Officials at CSU and CU said they use social norms techniques in their alcohol programs, and the techniques are effective – to a point.
Anne Hudgens, CSU’s executive director of campus life, said CSU has two social norms campaigns, and CSU freshmen are told if they don’t drink, there will be many others like them.
Still, Hudgens said, a social norms approach will not help the most chronic drinkers.
“There’s a time and a place where it is very powerful information,” she said. “But it also cannot be the only tool.”
CU incorporates social norms techniques into its campaigns as well, said Bob Maust, who oversees CU’s A Matter of Degree program, which seeks to curb alcohol abuse on campus.
Still, Maust noted, Harvard found in 2005 that 71 percent of CU students said they had engaged in binge drinking in the previous two weeks – a result that shouldn’t be ignored.
Sitting Thursday at a patio bar in Boulder, Larry Lantero, a 21-year-old CU civil engineering student, said he does take precautions, such as eating a good meal before going out to a party.
“We don’t usually let anyone get too drunk,” he said of his friends.
Other students need to know about that kind of behavior, Haines said.
“It’s very hard for people to assume students are taking protective measures, if all they hear about are students gone wild,” he said.
Staff writer Joel Grostephan contributed to this report.
