At many colleges there is a culture of drinking, particularly at Penn State. Many people pass off binge drinking and excessively drinking as “we’re just in college, this is what everyone does in college”. For some people it may truly be “having fun in college”, however many times people forget about the dangers of alcoholism and substance abuse.
I was talking with my friends about this, and we mentioned that it is sometimes hard to know if someone really has a problem with drinking. The culture at Penn State is one where getting drunk 3 maybe even 4 days out of the week is completely normalized. We come up with fun names to encourage more drinking like Tequila Tuesday, Wine Wednesday, and Thirsty Thursday to the point where it becomes normal to drink almost any day of the week.
“According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 54.9% of full-time college students between the ages of 18 and 22 drank alcohol in the past month”. I think this is severely undercounting the real amount of drinking among college students. Personally, I know at Penn State we have to fill out an anonymous survey about our alcohol and drug use and many people here have admitted to lying on the survey. From what I witness around campus, there are some people who chose not to drink, but that number seems relatively small. This may be also due to the nature of Penn State being labelled as a “party school”. Regardless, a significant amount of college students drink including many under 21.
Aside from just casually drinking, colleges also have a culture of binge drinking. Binge drinking is when people drink multiple drinks during a short period of time with the intention of getting drunk. Binge drinking can lead to many issues, for instance students that binge drink 3 or more days out of the week are 6 times more likely to perform worse academically. Additionally binge drinking can lead to alcohol poisoning or overdose.
While there are some negative side effects of binge drinking, one of the worst possible outcomes is addiction. Alcoholism affects many people and their loved ones across the United States. One of the issues my friends and I noted in college is that it can be hard to tell if someone really has an issue with drinking. To determine if someone may need help here are some signs of alcohol abuse to look out for in your friends or yourself:
- blacking out or memory loss from alcohol
- irritability and extreme mood swings
- isolating from friends and family members
- drinking alone or in secret
- choosing drinking over other responsibilities
- feeling hungover when not drinking
- making excuses to drink
Additionally there is a questionnaire called “CAGE” that medical professionals use to determine if someone has alcohol abuse issues. There are four questions:
- Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking?
- Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
- Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
- Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or get over a hangover?
If someone answers yes to two or more of these questions, they should seek professional medical assistance.
If you think you or a friend has drinking issues know that you can get help. SAMHSA has a national helpline you can call at any time and a treatment locator where you can find nearby treatment facilities. Additionally, Penn State specifically has a program you may have heard of called BASICS. I do not know how effective this program is as I know many students are forced to attend when they get an citation. However, if you self enroll it this program it is free of charge and could be a good resource. Additionally, CAPS is always available to help if you think you or a friend has an issue. If you have alcohol or other drug concerns call this number for a free screening: 814-863-0395. These two links contain more information on resources provided by Penn State:
Additionally if you’d like to learn more about this issue here are some sites I used to learn about this topic:
https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/alcohol/warning-signs/
Thanks for reading this weeks post! Hope you found this helpful and stay safe!