Looking at Collegiate Drinking: Part I

That some college and university students choose to drink is not news. That some of these drinkers actually choose to, or unintentionally, become intoxicated when drinking alcohol and experience an array of possible untoward consequences is likewise no secret. What may be a revelation for some is learning that most publications regarding collegiate drinking focus exclusively on these untoward consequences and covertly, if not overtly, imply that they are proof that all collegiate drinking is problematic.

If “the problem” is all collegiate drinking, then there can be but one possible objective of prevention…abstinence. However, such a goal suggests two questions: First, just as there has never been a time when alcohol was not used by some college students, can there ever be a time when no collegians drink (although it is likely that current percentages of students reporting use can be lessened and the frequency of that use and quantity consumed can be reduced)? Second, has the focus of research and prevention programming been too a posteriori and should that focus be directed instead to a priori considerations of drinking? Put more succinctly, we have been more concerned about the untoward consequences after students drink than in pursuing a better understanding of the meaning students ascribe to alcohol and drinking before consumption that influence their decision to drink in the first place. One argument in this essay is that such a priori considerations of collegiate drinking are likely to shed light on factors that affect individual decisions to drink…not to mention influencing student decisions when to drink, how to drink, or determine what circumstances warrant drinking, etc.

To understand how students view alcohol as a substance and drinking as a behavior is tantamount to having an insider’s perspective from which to consider factors affecting decisions made by students regarding collegiate drinking. This would permit a greater understanding of the means by which drinking has become an integral part of the social organization and culture of contemporary collegiate life…not to mention a fresh perspective from which to consider affecting change.

Efforts to “address” collegiate drinking have been historically focused on public policy approaches to control what has been described as a “social problem.” But this is remarkably similar to what was done in the 19th and early 20th centuries to address a similar national social problem, “alcohol” as perceived by the temperance movement. What is interesting in both situations—American’s concern about alcohol as a perceived social problem and higher education’s similar concern about student use—is the perception of what constitutes a “social problem” is essentially a social construction. This means that what causes a problem in the eyes of those who hold the power in a group or social body, is deemed a problem simply because it is perceived to cause a problem by those in a position of power. Because alcohol is involved in acts of violence or is correlated with poor academic performance by some students who drink, its consumption by any student is therefore perceived as a social problem, irrespective of the fact that untoward consequences are not experienced by the majority of drinkers especially on each occasion the decision is made to drink. As a social problem--and one that has increasingly been cited as "the" social problem in higher education--it demands attention and, therefore, must be solved by the most direct means available to accomplish such a solution, namely, via public policy.

This essay is not a plea to permit collegiate drinking or deny that the drinking done by some students is a significant issue in need of immediate attention. It is, however, an invitation to consider that the problem may not be what we think it is as regards alcohol and collegiate life. If, for example, the views of the majority in a particular social group are in agreement with what constitutes a social problem, public policy efforts to address that problem, i.e., "control it," are universally supported and the consequences associated with violating such policies are sanctioned. Examples of this can be seen when considering “driving while intoxicated,” “child abuse,” or “domestic violence.” Because the majority of Americans recognize that operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated is dangerous, that physically or sexually abusing a child is reprehensible, or assaulting a domestic partner is predatory, there is little if any protest when designating these behaviors as “social problems.” The majority of the populace are in agreement and these acts are deemed social problems because they cause problems for the society in which they occur.

But to suggest that issues such as abortion, smoking marihuana, or guns represent “social problems” is to all but instantly ignite a debate that is sure to generate more heat than light. These are issues for which there are significant advocates of at least two different points of view so there can be no clear consensus as to whether the issue is or is not a “social problem.” In short, those who hold the power to affect public policy will eventually settle the decision as to what constitutes a problem, prohibition being a good example of this in 1920 and those opposed to prohibition affecting its repeal in 1933. As in recording history, it is the victor to whom go the spoils, namely the opportunity to “record the truth.”

As regards collegiate drinking, because most if not all students understand that many if not most students who choose to drink—even those who choose to or unintentionally become intoxicated—do not experience untoward consequences as the result of any given drinking occasion, they do not see collegiate drinking as a “social problem.” Yet the issue of primacy for social scientists studying collegiate drinking and student affairs professionals addressing it on a daily basis are the untoward consequences associated with collegiate drinking.

Part II of this essay will consider student meaning for alcohol and drinking and how this may shed light on the difficulty students have in accepting "collegiate drinking" as the preeminent social problem in higher education today. To read more on this topic in some detail look at When They Drink: Deconstructing Collegiate Drinking (http://www.community.rowancas.org/node/21) and When They Drink: Is Collegiate Drinking the Problem We Think It Is? (http://www.rowan.edu/cas/resources/documents/CollegiateDrinking.doc.doc)

Ice Fishing

My grandfather used to tell me, "Robert, you've got to cut a hole in the ice before you can catch any fish." This was one of his folksy ways of instructing me in the need to prepare for a job in order to increase the likelihood of success. It seems the older I get and the more experience I glean as a counselor, the more I value the wisdom of this mentor with a DHW...that's, "Dr. of Hard Work." Pop seemed to be prepping me for the work I would find myself doing decades later with 18 - 22 year old students, some of whom are mandated for an alcohol or other drug assessment.

Quite by accident I found myself some years ago with 120 coffee mugs hanging on the wall of my office; they are still there today. These mementos of individual or family excursions through the years found their way to my wall when there was no more room on the book shelves to display such curios. As the number grew from a few oddities to an unmistakable collection, students would often gaze about my office when entering. A few years ago a student quipped, "Like coffee, eh doc?" to which I spontaneously responded, "Pick one."

The student pointed to a mug, quite at random, and I told her the story that accompanied that particular piece of paraphernalia used to administer my preferred drug of choice. Admittedly, the stories are not very exciting, PG rated at best--remember that many were collected while on family vacations :) However, the fact that the story was shared seemed to open a portal to conversation that became a wonderful segue to the business that brought the student to my office in the first place.

Through the years, I have used this technique whenever a student would comment on the mugs - I never force the issue. One of my greatest compliments as a counselor came from one student a couple years ago who got up to leave a session and commented, looking around an office with a "curio shop" decor, "you know doc, your office looks a lot like Robin Williams' in Good Will Hunting." As the Existential counselor I am, I have come to treasure that simple statement, one I chose to accept as a compliment.

I share this by way of inviting readers to think about strategies discovered over the years that have provided useful segues to approaching resistant, shy, closed, or even angry clients. I look forward to any responses as I am always looking to add to my "bag of tricks." I also believe that these "tricks" can be useful pedagogical tools to employ when teaching, affording students the opportunity to recognize the importance of being an affective person while at the same time striving to be an effective teacher or counselor. What do you think? Email me at: chapman.phd@gmail.com and I will post ideas and suggestions in a subsequent blog entry.

Robert

Seeing What You Expect to See

Stephen King once said in an interview, "Belief is the wellspring of myth and imagination." When I came to this quote while reading a book on brief therapy, in particular the sections on constructivism and narrative therapy, I could not help but think of the way contemporary collegians look at alcohol as a substance and drinking it as a behavior.

Alcohol and its consumption have become significant icons of collegiate life and a mythology surrounding drinking has evolved that is so entrenched in the minds of students entering college--not to mention their parents who recall its role from their college days--as to resist even the latest efforts to address the misperceptions many hold regarding it.

Alcohol and drinking have meaning because we ascribe that meaning to these icons of contemporary collegiate life. Michael Hoyt in (Some Stories are Better than Others: Doing what Works in Brief Therapy and Managed Care (2000) suggests that the essence of being human is that we are "meaning makers" and by our very nature cannot not participate in explaining, by whatever means, that which we experience. This is an apt explanation of how meaning is ascribed to alcohol and drinking...those who are aware of these aspects of college life maintain that awareness in the context of the meaning they have attributed to them. Unfortunately, the meaning we ascribe to an event in order to explain and understand it is does not guarantee its accuracy, hence the role of myth in explaining all manner of natural events and phenomenon.

For example, when I understand that alcohol is a prerequisite of "having a good time," it quickly becomes synonymous with having that good time. In fact, the mention of alcohol is no longer required because the party itself has become imbued with the meaning that alcohol will be present and those attending will be consuming it. Interestingly, the noun becomes a verb, which itself is a euphemism for drinking, that is to say, "to party" mean to drink.

Although this meaning is not isolated to collegiate life--many in high school have already become familiar with alcohol and understand its importance in a successful social life--it changes as students progress through successive terms in their collegiate experience. The meaning attributed to alcohol as a substance and drinking as a behavior "change." Where first-year students expect and then seek out the collegiate "keg party" with its obligatory "drinking games" and related "drunken comportment," the lure of this type of past time lessens.

In research that I have conducted the meaning ascribed to alcohol and drinking changed significantly as students progressed from their first-year to their later years in college--see my second monograph on collegiate drinking for an in depth look at this phenomenon - http://www.community.rowancas.org/Monographs/Monograph_510.pdf. It would appear that the meaning students ascribe to these collegiate icons changes as the result of experiences they have with them, either personally or vicariously--or more likely both. Whether this is a result of developmental movement from adolescence to young adult with the accompanying development of one's ability to reason with the further physiological development of the prefrontal cortex of the brain or whether it is learned through progressive experiences where drunken comportment becomes less attractive, the point remains, the behavior of many (most?) collegians who choose to drink in a high-risk fashion changes.

What is of interest to me, as a professional interested in issues of prevention and intervention, is how this naturally occurring process can be better understood and then incorporated into contemporary approaches to preventing untoward consequences associated with drinking. It stands to reason that if collegiate drinkers "mature out" of their high-risk approaches and this happens because the meaning hey ascribe to alcohol as a substance and drinking as a behavior have changed, then if we can understand this process we can likely hasten this process.

I suspect this is the next chapter that will need to be written in the handbook on preventing high-risk and dangerous drinking.