Study Says Fans in College More Likely to Binge Drink By LENA WILLIAMS College students who consider themselves sports fans are more likely to binge drink and have alcohol-related problems than students who are not sports fans, according to a Harvard study released yesterday. The Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, conducted in 1999, found that among students who drink alcohol, 53 percent of sports fans usually binged when drinking compared with 41 percent of men and 37 percent of women who considered themselves nonfans. Fans were also more likely to have drunk alcohol on 10 or more occasions in the past 30 days and to consider drinking "to get drunk" an important reason for drinking. Binge drinking for men is defined as having five or more alcoholic drinks in a relatively short period of time; for women, it's four drinks. The report comes in the wake of recent disturbances after football games at Ohio State and other colleges that some college administrators have attributed to under-age drinking. The legal drinking age is 21. "We know that student athletes binge drink more than nonathletes, but until now, no one has taken a systematic look at fans," said Toben F. Nelson, co-author of the study. "It turns out that fans are similar to athletes in their extreme drinking behavior, and that behavior has played out the last few weeks in the form of riots after a game, win or loss." The study, which will appear in the January/February issue of the journal Addictive Behaviors, is based on a 1999 survey of more than 14,000 students at 128 four-year colleges in 39 states. The findings compare the responses of 3,445 student sports fans with those of 8,405 nonfans. Nelson and Dr. Henry Wechsler, the co-authors, defined sports fans as survey respondents who indicated that attending sports events was either important or very important. "The strong tie of sports to a heavy drinking lifestyle at American college is no accident," Wechsler said. "It has taken many millions of dollars in advertising at sports events and ongoing financial support of sports programs at many colleges over many decades to forge that link." Like secondhand smoke's effect on nonsmokers, drinking can also have a deleterious impact on nondrinkers; the study said nondrinkers could have their study time and sleep disrupted, could be assaulted and could have their property vandalized. In the 10-year period in which the Harvard School of Public Health has studied the topic, the rate of binge drinking at colleges has remained almost unchanged. The authors said it was unlikely to change without intervention from coaches, college administrators and parents. Its so great to see our Ivy league schools using their resources on such groundbreaking issues, isn't it?
Uhhh...please explain to me what OTHER important reason there is to drink please... Seriously though, I had to quit drinking 6 weeks ago b/c my liver got screwed up after being extremely drunk for 8 consecutive days back in August (hey it was a cruise, I had an excuse!!).
That's something I've never really understood either. I either drink to get drunk (or a slight buzz) or to have a beer with a greasy cheeseburger.
Here's another very similar study that was done: http://www.theonion.com/onion3511/college_drinking.html
full article that Rashmon linked to.... definitely a better study and more reliable AMHERST, MA—Researchers at the University of Massachusetts released a surprising new study Monday indicating that, contrary to long-held beliefs about its destructive effects, collegiate binge drinking is a ****ing blast. "Data collected at bars and fraternity parties on the UMass campus has yielded unexpected conclusions with regard to the practice of binge drinking," study head Dr. Albert Greaves said. "Over the course of our research, a consistent pattern emerged demonstrating that binge drinking seriously kicks ass." "There was this one bar called The Depot, where they serve beer in these humongous three-foot glasses that are like giant boots," Greaves continued. "You have to stand back and tilt the thing to drink it all. Our team conducted an experiment to see who could finish one off the fastest. Myself, Dr. Milton Laurian and these eight 20-year-old test subjects lined up against a wall and started chugging away. After completing the test and subsequently throwing up all over the place, I could only conclude that downing huge-ass boot beers is really awesome." Added Greaves: "That was the best ****ing study." The 250-page report comes as a surprise to the many medical researchers who had previously found binge drinking to have a host of negative effects. A 1996 Johns Hopkins University study concluded that binge drinking is a destructive scourge on college campuses that can lead to alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual assault and alcohol poisoning. But in the wake of the UMass study, the Johns Hopkins researchers and others have been forced to revise their conclusions. "It appears that our study would have benefited greatly from first-hand observation of the binge-drinking phenomenon," said Dr. Caroline Worsted of Johns Hopkins. "Our failure to go out and collect primary data at bars and off-campus house parties until all hours of the night skewed our findings, preventing us from accurately measuring just how much fun it is to get ripped." According to Greaves, much of the UMass team's research was conducted at a party at this one guy Matt's place. "My colleagues and I were doing beer bongs, keg-stands, Jell-O shots, Jager shots—you name it," Greaves said. "We were totally binge drinking and just having a great ****ing time. The best part was the crowd—the study was packed, and there was this amazing random sampling of hot chicks. I was so drunk, I couldn't figure out what the source of the unusually large hot-chick sample was, but by that point, I really didn't care." When the keg was tapped, Greaves and his team went looking for a place to gather more data. "We heard there was this awesome study on Church Street, but we didn't have the address, so we just went wandering around," Greaves said. "We eventually wound up walking into this complete other study where we didn't know anyone. Unfortunately, it turned out to be totally lame—most of the people there were in the non-drinking control group. We had fun for a little while busting on them, but pretty soon we split." Among the UMass team's findings: A 10-ounce serving of Jack Daniels can be consumed 30 percent faster when accompanied by shouts of "Go! Go! Go! Go!"; the bathroom at The Lightning Lounge is a popular place to throw up; and when Dr. Andrew Schmid drinks five Long Island iced teas, he lies down in the street and starts singing the chorus to The Dream Academy's "Life In A Northern Town" at the top of his lungs. "Dr. Schmid is what we scientists term a ****ing booze monster," team member Dr. James Podriewski said. "This one time, we needed a whole bunch of Wild Turkey and tonic water for a study that was just getting going at midnight, so we sent him out to this store that's open until 2 a.m., and we're waiting for, like, hours until he finally comes back, and he doesn't have any of the stuff, but he's carrying this big ****ing railroad-crossing sign, and he's all like, 'Guys, check out the sign I found.' It was funny as ****. I swear, I was laughing so hard, I almost left a urine sample all over my pants." Podriewski, addressing reporters in front of a massive pyramid of empty laboratory beakers, called the study "a major success." "That was seriously the best study I've ever done," Podriewski said. "I don't know what those New England Journal Of Medicine people were talking about when they did that 1996 study in conjunction with the Department of Education that found binge drinking to be even more dangerous and destructive than previously believed. As far as I could tell, binge drinking rules."
