One more drink?

College is a time for students to study hard and work towards their degree. College is also a time for students to socialize and have fun with friends. A joke known by college students is that you’re not an alcoholic if you are in school. Many people know their drinking limit and can control themselves when it comes to alcohol. Others however start to depend on alcohol and fall into the category of an alcoholic.

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Alcoholism is a disease. It is a problem that people face where they can’t control their drinking, need to drink more as they become more dependent on alcohol, and can affect not only the alcoholic but friends and family members as well.

Becoming an alcoholic can come from a couple of different things. The Mayo Clinic states, “Alcoholism is influenced by genetic, psychological, social, and environmental factors.” If a person had started drinking at a younger age they are at a higher risk. Family history also plays a role in alcoholism, those with alcoholics in their family are also at a higher risk.

After looking at a few different articles, it was unclear of how much your risk increases of becoming an alcoholic if it runs in your family, or if you started drinking at a young age. This would then put the risk of becoming an alcoholic at a relative risk because there are no definite numbers. However, in a more broader sense (not looking at the exact cause),according to Medline Plus: about 3 out of 10 people are at risk for alcoholism, which is an absolute risk.

So while college students may joke about being an alcoholic while in college, they need to know that it can become an actual reality and that they need to be careful of how much they drink.

Resources:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000944.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alcoholism/basics/definition/con-20020866

4 thoughts on “One more drink?

  1. Jesenia A Munoz

    This article made me think of the social aspects of drinking in college. Many people come to college without having ever gotten drunk but get here and feel as if they need to do so to fit in. After all, it sucks being the only sober one in a room full of drunks and no matter how hard to try to convince yourself that you don’t need to be drunk to have fun, you always just feel more comfortable when on the same level as people around you.
    Here is a site discussing peer pressure and social satisfaction linked to drinking: http://www.livescience.com/22512-college-binge-drinkers-happier.html

  2. gel5088

    This study would be very difficult to do an experiment on. It would have to be an observational study but many third confounding variables would play into the study. For example, the size of the individual could contribute to how much alcohol one consumes. Also how we determine if one is an “alcoholic.” This could also face the file drawer problem because some studies that do not find a correlation between alcoholism and increased risk if it runs in your family, then that particular study might not be published. Without those studies we cannot make a correct decision as to if we should reject the null hypothesis or not. We must also consider that it could also be due to chance.

  3. William Spencer Hershon

    I wonder the same thing that Tiffany said. Are college students more at risk of becoming an alcoholic than those that don’t attend college? That would be an interesting experiment to do and I’m sure the results would be quite interesting. We know, especially here at Penn State, that drinking alcohol can be a major part of the social scene. But when does enough become too much? You have to know your limits and not let it effect your grades and relationships with others. If there is ever a risk of becoming dependent on alcohol it would be now or in later years. The amount of drinks one consumes nightly I’m sure is linked directly to a causation into alcoholism. But what really causes the risk? Do some schools produce more alcoholics than others?

  4. Tiffany Elizabeth Breon

    I found this article particularly intriguing because it makes a good point. However, while reading this the thought, “I wonder if college students are more at risk to become alcoholics than people who don’t go to college?” of course in order to actually study that result both people would either have to be genetically predisposed to alcoholism or not so there aren’t too many variables. I went searching for a study like that, but I was unable to find one. However, I did find an article that highlights the dangers of drinking while in college, check it out: http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/1College_Bulletin-508_361C4E.pdf

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