High Risk Alcohol Use Among College Students: High Risk Alcohol Use Among College Students Patricia S. Terrell, Ed.D. Vice President for Student Affairs University of Kentucky USA www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs


Magnitude of Problems Associated with Alcohol: Magnitude of Problems Associated with Alcohol 4% of the global burden of disease is attributable to alcohol Overall, there are causal relationships between alcohol consumption and more than 60 types of disease and injury including traffic fatalities. Alcohol cannot be considered an ordinary beverage since it is a drug that causes substantial medical, psychological and social harm


Slide3: Regular alcohol consumption and binge drinking in adolescents can negatively affect school performance, increase participation in crime and adversely affect sexual performance and behaviour. Alcohol advertising and promotion is rapidly expanding throughout the world and is increasingly sophisticated and carefully targeted, including to youth. Source: The World Medical Association, 2005


Slide4: Per-capita Consumption of Alcohol, 2002 Country Per-capita Consumption (rank out of 45) (litres of pure alcohol) Luxembourg (1) 11.9 Republic of Ireland (3) 10.8 Germany (5) 10.4 France (6) 10.3 United Kingdom (9) 9.6 Denmark (10) 9.5 Russia (15) 8.6 Netherlands (17) 8.0 Finland (21) 7.7 Australia (23) 7.3 Canada (25) 6.9 USA (26) 6.7 Sweden (34) 4.9 South Africa (38) 4.7 Norway (39) 4.4 Mexico (45) 3.1 Source: World Drink Trends, 2004


Per Capita Consumption of Alcohol, 2003: Per Capita Consumption of Alcohol, 2003 Country (Rank Out of 45) Litres of pure alcohol per capita Luxembourg (1) 12.6 + Hungary* (2) 11.4 Czech Republic* (3) 11.9 Republic of Ireland (4) 10.8 R- Germany (5) 10.2 - Spain* (6) 10.0 United Kingdom (7) 9.6 R- Portugal* (8) 9.6 Denmark (9) 9.5 R- Austria (10) 9.3 France (11) 9.3 R-; - USA (26) 6.8 + Mexico (45)* 3.1 *Less Reliable + litres increased; - litres declined; R- ranking declined; R+ Ranking rose Source: World Drinking Trends, 2005


Summary of Consumption by Beverage Type, 2003: Summary of Consumption by Beverage Type, 2003 Country Spirits Beer Wine Luxembourg 1.6 101.6 66.1 Hungary 3.5 72.2 37.4 Czech Repub. 3.8 157.0 16.8 Ireland 2.0 141.2 15.2 Germany 2.0 117.5 23.6 Spain 2.4 78.3 30.6 UK 1.8 101.5 20.1 Portugal 1.4 58.7 42.0 Denmark 1.1 96.2 32.6 Austria 1.4 110.6 29.8 France 2.4 35.5 48.5 USA 1.9 81.6 9.5 Mexico .7 46.9 .2 Source, World Drink Trends, 2005


Binge Drinking inIreland and the USA: Binge Drinking in Ireland and the USA Ireland 48% of men binge drink 16% of women binge drink (Source: Alcohol in Moderation, 2003) Binge drinking costs $3 Billion in 2003 in health, drunk driving and related crimes (Source: About Alcoholism, 2004) Irish third level students spend more money on alcohol every month than on food (Source: College Lifestyle and Attitudinal National (CLAN) Survey as reported in Irish Health, 2005)


Slide8: USA Number one problem at all colleges nationally Costs of alcohol use and abuse are estimated at well over $100 Billion annually to the U.S. taxpayer 44% of college age students binge drink (five or more drinks in one sitting for a male and three or more for a female) The number of students who do not drink has increased while the number of students who binge drink has also increased 1,400 college students die from alcohol-related causes, and 1,100 of those involve drinking and driving


Slide9: 400,000 have unprotected sex More than 100,000 students are too intoxicated to know whether they consented to sexual intercourse 2.1 million students drive while under the influence of alcohol 60% had study or sleep interrupted 47.6% had to take care of a drunken peer Source: Core Alcohol and Drug Survey, Harvard University, 2003.


UK’s Benchmark Binge Drinking Rates: UK’s Benchmark Binge Drinking Rates UCLA 22% U. of Washington 32% Maryland – Women 34% Ohio State 40% Minnesota 44% North Carolina State 45% Purdue 45% Maryland – Men 45% Michigan State 47% Florida 51% U. of Michigan 52% Texas A & M 53% Virginia 56% Kentucky 60% Georgia 61% Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 61% Wisconsin 66% U. of Iowa 68% Source: University of Kentucky Student Affairs, 2006


Influence of Marketing and Advertising: Influence of Marketing and Advertising A study on alcohol advertising in magazines from 1997 to 2001 found that the number of beer and distilled spirits ads tended to increase with a magazine's youth readership. For every 1 million underage readers ages 12-19 in a magazine, researchers generally found 1.6 times more beer advertisements and 1.3 times more distilled spirits advertisements.2 A study published in January 2006 concludes that greater exposure to alcohol advertising contributes to an increase in drinking among underage youth. Specifically, for each additional ad a young person saw above the average for youth, he or she was 1% more likely to drink. For each additional dollar spent per capita on alcohol advertising in a local market, young people drank 3% more.3 A recent study of eighth-graders showed that those with greater exposure to alcohol advertisements in magazines, on television, and at sporting and music events were more aware of the advertising and more likely to remember the advertisements they had seen.4


Slide12: A study of 12-year-olds found that children who were more aware of beer advertising held more favorable views on drinking and expressed an intention to drink more often as adults than did children who were less knowledgeable about the ads.5 A study on the responses of young people to alcohol advertising found that underage youth are drawn to music, animal and people characters, story and humor in alcohol advertising. Ads that were liked by youth in the study were more likely to elicit responses from youth saying they wanted to purchase the brand and products advertised. The three most popular alcohol ads among youth in the study used animal characters as the leading actors.6 Another study found that, among a group of 2,250 middle-school students, those who viewed more television programs containing alcohol commercials while in the seventh grade were more likely in the eighth grade to drink beer, wine/liquor, or to drink three or more drinks on at least one occasion during the month prior to the follow-up survey.8 Source: Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2006


Slide13: Vegetarian by Day, Bacardi by Night


Slide14: Librarian by Day, Bacardi by Night


Slide15: You Did What With the Cork?


Slide16: Jim Beam Ad


Slide17: Get McDonalds to Help


Slide18: Can I buy you a drink?


Slide19: Think Everyone Can See That?


Slide20: Traveling Advertisement


Slide21: The Captain Was Here


Slide22: “every-time”


Slide26: Alcohol advertising increased 39% from 2001 to 2002. Youth 12 – 20 were more likely on a per capita basis than adults to have seen 66,218 ads, a 30% increase over 2001. Source: The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, April 21, 2004.


Venues for Beer Advertisements: Venues for Beer Advertisements Venue Specific Source Magazines Rolling Stone Sports Illustrated People Playboy Field and Stream Newsweek Concession stands In-store displays Television Televised football and basketball games The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Late Night with Conan O’Brien The Late Show with David Letterman Saturday Night Live


Best Practices: Best Practices Form a Campus Safety coalition that includes all key stakeholders and charged by the President with addressing high-risk behavior Develop a critical incidence evaluation format for evaluating safety incidents Create a specific taskforce to explore strategies for reducing large off-campus parties that may result in increased high risk use


Slide29: President should create a commission to study the issues of tailgating (Game Day Environmental Management) Implement a safe-ride program More and expanded safety programs for pedestrians Safety related repairs should receive highest priority President should be visionary, vocal and visible on the issue. Rethink the admissions process and put more emphasis on alcohol prevention throughout


Slide30: More streamlined review and revision process for Student Code of Conduct. Improve relationships with social groups, especially Greeks. Increase the number of alcohol free events, such as Wild Cat Wild Nights Continue to conduct a biennial assessment. Use social norming and begin a significant, long-term, evaluated and sustained social norms campaign. Increase parent education. Form an alumni group that will support and promote a culture of responsible drinking Offer legal seminars about alcohol vending, provision and consumption and risk management.


Slide31: Support the formation of peer education groups (e.g., Genesis at UK) Enforce policies and have stronger sanctions Lobby for elimination of “happy hours” and “2 for 1” drink specials Lobby for greater taxes and restricted hours or “keg” registrations Lobby for more training for bartenders Focus on high risk rather than underage use


Slide32: Eliminate mass marketing to young people that portrays alcohol as fun, exciting and risk free Restrict the promotion, advertising and provision of alcohol to youth to impact social pressures to consume alcohol Screen incoming students for alcohol use disorders and at-risk behavior and hold mandatory counseling sessions (University of Central Florida)


Slide33: Offer more alcohol free social events on campus planned by students for students Use sporting events and high profile University staff and faculty to speak out against high risk alcohol use Expand programming for parents, especially those who think that drinking is fine as long as their student does not drink and drive


Slide34: Thank you Erin go Braugh!