C'mon, It's Just One Drink!

Some people go into college with the intentions of starting the rest of their lives and having a bright future, while other students are just ready to be out of their parent’s house. When students get to college and experience all the freedom that they have been missing out on all their lives, some tend to just go wild. The Center for Health and Behavior of Syracuse University did a study, and the results showed that the initiation or increase of alcohol use often occurs during college years (Lo& Globetti, 1993). Being in a new environment and the fact that so many college students to have easy access to alcohol makes it ten times easier for them to get their peers involved.
 The study actually concluded that students who choose not to drink are usually made fun of, so it is almost expected of them to drink. Since not drinking at a party is almost frowned upon, most students give and figure they should drink to fit in and “be cool” like everyone else. The different tables in the study showed the males and females who participated in the study with different situations. Such as them choosing to drink an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage, or which of the student that had been drinking were heavy or light drinkers. They also found that students started drinking based on how they saw their peers drinking so they decided to imitate their behavior. So if one kid had never been to a party and then his roommate came back and tells him a crazy story about his night after drinking, the roommate who has never been out is more likely to want to experience alcohol for himself now. This is called indirect peer influencing. Although there are students who do go to college and go all four years without a sip of alcohol, there are lots who just want to experiment. Getting turned on to drinking by your peers seems to be very common in college, due to care free, life is good students tend to put out. It’s just one drink, so why not is the mentality some of these students have.


ABSTRACT

Bosari, Brian& Carey, Kate. (2001).  Journal of Substance Abuse. Volume 13, Issue 4. Pages 391-424