Despite the national 21-year minimum drinking age law, underaged drinking is pervasive on college campuses, according to a new study.
"In these settings, where about one half of students are under age 21, regular use and abuse of alcohol is part of many students' environments," said lead author Henry Wechsler, Ph.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
Wechsler and colleagues from Harvard, UCLA, and St. Joseph's University surveyed approximately 7,000 college students under the age of 21 and approximately 5,000 students aged 21-23 about their drinking patterns.
The underage students surveyed, most of whom reported that it was "easy" or "very easy" to obtain alcohol, were more likely to drink in private settings such as dorms and fraternity parties, and they were more likely to obtain alcohol inexpensively.
More than half (57 percent) of underage students who drank reported that they paid less than one dollar for a drink, got it free, or paid a set price for an unlimited number of drinks compared to 15 percent of students 21 to 23 years of age. "Easily obtainable cheap alcohol, especially beer, fuels binge drinking for underage college students," Wechsler said.
Underaged college students drink less frequently: 63 percent of the underaged students reported drinking in the past 30 days compared with 74 percent of the of-age students. However, underage students drink more per occasion than older students: 42 percent had five-or-more drinks compared with 27 percent of the older students, the researchers found.
Underaged students were also significantly more likely to experience alcohol-related problems, such as engaging in unplanned sexual activity, damaging property, injuring themselves, getting into trouble with police, being treated for alcohol overdose, doing something they later regretted, or forgetting their actions, according to the study.
One alcohol-related problem not associated with underaged students was dri
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Contact: Henry Wechsler, Ph.D.
hwechsle@hsph.harvard.edu
617-432-1137
Center for the Advancement of Health
18-Jun-2000