Problem Schools Make Little Progress Against Student Drinking

Frequent binge drinking has increased over the last decade at colleges with the biggest drinking problems, demonstrating the lack of progress these schools have made in addressing underage and excessive alcohol use, Science Daily reported Sept. 11.

Researchers focused on 18 colleges identified in 1993 as having especially bad problems with student drinking. A 2005 followup found that frequent binge drinking at the schools rose from 28 percent of students in 1993 to 32 percent in 2005. Overall binge-drinking rates declined over the decade, but only slightly — from 58 percent to 56 percent.

In both 1993 and 2005, the overwhelming majority of students said they drank alcohol, and rates of consumption, drunk driving, unprotected sex after drinking, and alcohol-related injuries barely budged over the study period.

The findings appear in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.