All College Students Drink the Same...or Is that a Myth?


College students drink. And that, it is safe to say, is not news. But how many people know that one-third of the students consume three-quarters of the booze on American campuses?

Why is it that these intelligent people put themselves at risk, and what can be done about it?

My university counseling experience and time in the classroom has taught me that most students believe they are immune to the consequences of heavy drinking. Students claim that alcohol related tragedies are results of “bad luck” or that they occur because the victims were “stupid.” In short, they cannot imagine themselves experiencing a similar tragedy. Even when students would see me when referred by the University judicial system after a crisis resulting from a bout of heavy drinking, they often used the same reasoning to explain their own experience: “I have the worst luck” or “I was just stupid.”

This attitude is similar to social psychology’s just world hypothesis. This phenomenon suggests that "people get what they deserve"...good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Applying this to college students, most feel immune to danger when engaged in high-risk behavior because they believe that they are good people, and therefore bad things will not happen to them...they are "bullet proof" as one student informed me. So, even when students have been educated about the risks of alcohol abuse, it comes as no surprise that they often experience serious, and sometimes tragic, consequences from excessive alcohol consumption.

Another contributing phenomenon that may help explain why some engage in excessive consumption also comes from social psychology; Groupthink. This phenomenon occurs when the leader of a cohesive group influences the other members, often resulting in poor decision making during stressful situations. The hallmarks of such flawed decision making include a group’s belief that it is invincible and has a moral responsibility to act in a particular fashion. There is also a tendency to view individuals outside the group as "others" and to justify this by using stereotypes. The group employs a buffer that insulates it from outside influence and censors contrary or alternative views to those expressed by the group. As a result, individual members are led to support the group’s decision. This may explain the hazing phenomenon seen in some collegiate groups or lend an explanation to the violence that can emerge when rival groups, for example, Greek lettered organizations, clash following an evening of drinking.

Taking these phenomena into consideration, it is helpful to recognize that the beliefs and perspectives of students who do not drink or who do so moderately are a valuable source of information about campus culture. It is important to understand why these students act responsibly, and then apply this understanding in approaches to programming. For instance, many first-year students tell me that they arrive on campus believing alcohol is integral to an active collegiate social life. This is important to know because it provides an indication as to what these students expect of a successful university experience. To the extent that students expect drinking to be associated with collegiate life, they are primed to pursue that expectation. Recognizing this allows us to develop proactive means for confronting these student misperceptions. It is important to alert students to the myth of collegiate drinking: that not everyone drinks and for those who do, not everyone gets drunk. This may shift the desire from conformity through alcohol abuse to abstinence or moderation, teaching students that just because they are sober, their collegiate experience is not wasted.

Robert