Prevention Works!

Changing Heavy Alcohol Use Among College Students

After an all-night party where college students drank alcohol in tremendous quantities, a promising college student’s life ends suddenly, tragically. Parents, friends, and college administrators are left wondering what went wrong. As recent headlines indicate, such scenarios are not uncommon on college campuses across the country: 44 percent of student respondents to a 1993 Harvard School of Public Health survey drank heavily at least once in the two weeks prior to the survey.

Many college administrators, prevention specialists, and community leaders have developed innovative prevention strategies for their communities. The strategies involve environmental, educational, peer-based, and legislative approaches to stop illegal drinking among college students. Campus-wide initiatives include strict enforcement of the drinking age and "zero tolerance" policies for alcohol-related disciplinary violations. Alcohol-free events, substance-free dormitories, peer counseling programs, curriculum offerings, and alcohol awareness campaigns are helping students learn to enjoy their college years without the problems associated with illegal or irresponsible alcohol use.

Limiting the affordability and accessibility of alcohol off campus is another approach to reducing college drinking. Local law enforcement is helping to ensure that area retail establishments do not sell alcohol to intoxicated students or minors. Legislators are supporting regulations that eliminate marketing campaigns targeting underage buyers.

Comprehensive partnerships between colleges and local communities are also helping to tackle the problem of heavy drinking among college students. However, prevention specialists and others should continually assess strategies to ensure a long-term, positive effect on this target population. To make a lasting impact among collegians, the methodologies should be audience-specific, clearly communicated, comprehensive, and combined with the surrounding community.

Source: Anderson, David S., & Gleason Milgram, G. (1996). Promising Practices: Campus Alcohol Strategies. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University.

To receive a complimentary copy of this PreventionAlert, call SAMSHA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) @ 1-800-729-6686, TDD 1-800-487-4889 (for the hearing impaired.) PREVENTIONAlert is supported by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and may be copied without permission with appropriate citation. For information about PREVENTIONAlert, please contact CSAP by phone (301) 443-0581 or e-mail gensley@samhsa.gov