College Students and the Effects of Binge Drinking

Dan ReedRochelle Wescott

Eric SharkeyEvan Picariello

Background Info

• Binge drinking is defined as “a pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 grams percent or above. This typically happens when men consume 5 or more drinks, and women consume 4 or more drinks, in about 2 hours”

• One drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 1.5 ounces of hard liquor or 5 ounces of wine.

Background Info (cont.)

• There were 599,000 students between the ages 18-24 that were unintentionally injured due to them using alcohol each year.

• And the big number that stands out was that 1,700 college students die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries.

Research Question

• Why do college students binge drink and what are the effects?

• What would influence them to change their behavior?

Significance of the Problem

• Binge drinking causes many detrimental side effects. Some of them include, alcohol poisoning, liver disease, high blood pressure, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases

• Some other side effects not directly to binge drinking but may happen when partaking in binge drinking would be STD’s, unintended pregnancy and other physical injuries possibly from being intoxicated and hurting yourself.

Significance (cont.)• Academics are affected by binge drinking and

about 25% of college students have reported academic consequences of their binge drinking.

• These consequences included missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams and receiving lower grades overall.

Subjects

• The total amount of subjects we surveyed added up to 50 students.

• We found our subjects at multiple places, such as the Recreational Center, Library, Student Center, classes, and those who were walking around on campus.

• We also posted our survey on Facebook after creating a group and limited it to Rowan students.

Tools

• Upon creating our survey we took into consideration that some people do not drink. We adjusted our questions to fit those who did not by designing questions with the answer of “0” or N/A.

Timeline

• We did our survey by a certain date so we could collect our data and analyze the results.

Results

92%

8%

Do You Drink?

YesNo

•As you can see the majority of the students we surveyed at Rowan University drink.

Results (Cont.)

38%

52%

10%

How Often Do you Binge Drink?

0-1 day2-3 days4-5 days6-7 days

•No one selected that they binge drink 6-7 days a week. •Those who answered that they binge drink 0-1 days a week were 38% out of 50 people. •The 26 people who answered 2-3 days a week fell in the percentage of 52% and the 5 people who answered 4-5 days a week were only 10% out of the 50 surveyed.

Results (Cont.)

66%

30%

4%

How easy is it for you to get al-cohol?

Very EasyEasyHardVery Hard

•Of those who were surveyed 66% or 33 people answered that it’s very easy for them to obtain it. •The other groups, such as those who found it just easy to access it were 30% or 15 out of 50 people, and 2 people found it very hard to get it, which is 4% of those surveyed.

Results (Cont.)

56%

26%

10%

8%

How many drinks do you have on a weekend night?

7 or more drinks4-6 drinks1-3 drinksDo not drink

•The majority of the people, or 56% of them, answered that they drink 7 or more drinks in a weekend night.•Thirteen people, or 26%, answered that they drink 4-6 drinks a night on the weekend, 5 people answered 1-3 drinks a night, which is 10%, and 4 people said that they do not drink on the weekends, which makes up 8% of the population asked.

Results (Cont.)

54%

20%

10%

16%

How many drinks do you have on a weeknight?

0 drinks1-2 drinks3-4 drinks5 or more drinks

•Twenty-seven, or 54% of those surveyed answered that out of the 5 days of the week they don’t drink at all. •According to the others, 10 have 1-2 drinks, or 20%, 5 have 3-4 drinks, which falls as 10%, and 8 consume 5 drinks or more on a regular weekday, which makes that percentage fall at 16%.

Results (Cont.)

36%

36%

18%

6%

How many of the drinks on the weekend do you chug?

0-1 drinks2-3 drinks4-5 drinks6+ drinks

This question spread out evenly among the answers at 0-1 and 2-3 drinks chugged. Out of the 50 people, 19 people answered for both of those answers, which are 36% each. The others asked fell in the category of 9 people who chugged 4-5 drinks, or 18%, and 3 who chugged 6 or more drinks, or 6%.

Results (Cont.)

70%4%

14%

12%

How are you influenced to binge drink?

FriendsFit InHave FunN/A

•When asked this question 70% (35/50) of Rowan students answered they were influenced by their friends.•4% (2/50) answered to fit in• 14% (7/50) answered to have fun •12% (6/50) were not applicable.

Results (Cont.)

86%

14%

What do you consider binge drinking?

Drinking a lot in a little amount of timeBlackingout

•When asked this question 86% (43/50) of Rowan students answered drinking a lot in a little amount of time •14% (7/50) considered binge drinking as blacking out.

Results (Cont.)

88%

8%

4%

Where and when do you binge drink?

PartiesBarsN/A

•When asked this question 88% (44/50) of Rowan students said they binge drink at parties•8% (4/50) said they binge drink at bars •4% (2/50) were not applicable

Results (Cont.)

12%

70%

18%

When did binge drinking start for you?

Middle SchoolHigh SchoolCollege

•When asked this question 12% (6/50) of Rowan students said they started binge drinking is middle school•70% (35/50) said they started in high school •18% (9/50) said they started in college.

Results (Cont.)

Socia

l Reaso

ns

Sexu

al Reaso

nsStr

ess

Peer Pressu

re0%

50%100%150%200%250%300%350%400%

What is the reasoning for binge drinking?

What is the reasoning for binge drink-ing?

When asked this question 80% (40/50) of Rowan students said they binge drink because of social reasons 36% (18/50) said they binge drink because of sexual reasons30% (15/50) said they binge drink because of peer pressure 32% (16/50) said they binge drink because of stress.

Results (Cont.)

28%

20%24%

20%

8%

Would getting arrested change your ways of drinking?

Very LikelyLikelyNot SureUnlikelyVery Unlikely

When asked this question 28% (14/50) of Rowan students said it was very likely 20% (10/50) said it was likely 24% (12/50) were not sure 20% (10/50) said it was unlikely 8% (4/50) said it was very unlikely

Results (Cont.)

40%

26%

10%

12%

12%

Would getting an alcohol poison-ing effect your decisions on drink-

ing again?

Very LikelyLikelyNot SureUnlikelyVery Unlikely

•When asked this question 40% of Rowan students said it was very likely•26% said it was likely•10% said they weren’t sure•12% said it was unlikely•12% said it was very unlikely

Results (Cont.)

32%

34%

18%

10%

6%

If a friend has passed away because of an alcoholic situa-

tion, would you stop?

Very LikelyLikelyNot SureUnlikelyVery Unlikely

When asked this question 32% of Rowan students said it was very likely34% said it was likely18% said they weren’t sure10% said it was unlikely6% said it was very unlikely

Results (Cont.)

40%

12%

8%

14%

10%

How often do you use a des-ignated driver?

Every time Most of the time

Not sure Hardly everNever

When asked this question 40% of Rowan Students said they use one every time12% said most of the time8% said they weren’t sure14% hardly ever10% said they never use one

Results (Cont.)

90%

10%

Do you “pregame” before going out to drink more?

YesNo

•When our surveyors were asked if they “pregame” before going out to drink, 45, or 90% of the surveyors said that they did•Only 5 people or 10% said they do not “pregame” before going out to drink more.