Most college students have heard, or uttered, the rationale that there is no such thing as an alcoholic in college, but while only 7 percent are technically considered alcoholics, binge drinking continues to be a problem nationwide.
Boston University officials said although some students drink to the point of excess and eventually could become a problem, the majority consume alcohol responsibly.
More than half — 56 percent — of BU students drink fewer than four drinks when they go out, and 10 percent of BU students abstain from alcohol altogether, Student Health Services Director David McBride said in an email.
Most students’ alcohol habits do not qualify as addiction, he said.
“Addiction would include things like attempts to cut down, having people concerned about your use, guilt about use, drinking in the morning, difficulty stopping [drinking] once having started and use despite negative consequences,” McBride said.
“We see less frequent negative effects from drinking as students age,” he said. “Developmental maturity is likely a big reason.”
Seven percent of college students meet the criteria for alcohol dependence and 31 percent meet the criteria for alcohol abuse, according to a 2002 Harvard University study.
Most college students who drink are binge drinkers, said Susan Aromaa, Join Together Senior Manager of Research and Communications. Join Together, a BU School of Public Health program, seeks to effectively prevent and treat drug and alcohol abuses, according to its website.
Aromaa said although students’ habits do not always qualify as addiction, binge drinking can lead to serious social and academic problems or develop into a problem in adulthood.
“Studies have shown that there are some students who may not be able to cut back and become dependent,” Aromaa said.
Binge drinking is defined as a male who consumes five or more drinks in a sitting and a female drinking four or more alcoholic beverages, Aromaa said. The Harvard study found 44 percent of college students binge drink.
“Five beers in a night is not a lot,” College of Communication senior Matt Kakley said. “Binge drinking has a very negative connotation, but I think you can go out and have eight beers over the span of the whole night. Your body burns it off.”
COM senior Andy Hoglund said it is difficult to identify students with drinking problems, noting it is “not that glaring” in a college atmosphere. He said, however, students might use alcohol for the wrong reasons.
“On the whole, a good part [is] college kids are uncomfortable with themselves; they’re in this identity flux and they know that alcohol is a way of relating,” Hoglund said. “A lot of people use alcohol as a crutch.”
Other students said they think drinking only becomes a problem when it affects multiple areas of a student’s life.
“Students are dependent on alcohol when they can’t function without it, they can’t work, hang out with friends — when their life revolves around drinking alcohol,” CAS freshman Henry Wilder said.
