STORY BYCollege-student deaths from alcohol poisoning make for shocking headlines. But the shock wears off by Day Two of Spring break. Right now, college students across the country are booked on "booze cruises" and Spring break vacations of bacchanalian proportions.
Research has shown that finger-wagging or semester-long prevention programs won’t deter college drinking. What does seem to reduce binge-drinking is a secure web site that among other things, translates liquor intake to calories and shows just where that student falls on the drink-o-meter compared with peers.
In other words, discovering that you drank the equivalent of 20 cheeseburgers in a weekend and that 90 percent of your peers drink less than you is sobering stuff.
"Students themselves tend to overestimate the number of other college students who drink heavily," says Dr. Scott Walters, assistant professor of health promotion and behavioral sciences at The University of Texas School of Public Health and co-investigator of a new study on college binge-drinking interventions. "In one study only 9 percent of college students thought they drank more than the average student."
Walters along with other UT School of Public Health researchers are reporting that a program on the Internet (www.e-CHUG.com) not only can help reduce alcohol consumption, but also change students’ views about what is considered normal drinking.
The study, published in the March 2007 issue of Prevention Science, found that students who received personalized feedback from e-CHUG reported a drop in drinking levels eight weeks earlier than those who did not get any feedback. In terms of college relativity, that translates to half a semester—enough time to rescue a plunging grade point.
From his research on campus alcohol intervention
programs, Dr. Scott Walters, assistant professor
of behavioral sciences at the UT School of Public
Health at Houston, found that that
targeting the
motivation behind binge drinking has more impact
than the usual scare tactics. Instead of telling
students that drinking 21 shots can kill them, he
suggests presenting students with the number of
college students who actually do this.
One possible approach to target the student's
motivation is to
talk about
comparative norms-
what the other kids
are doing- Walters says. "For
example,
'how much
are other students drinking,
relative to you? The
percentage is probably pretty
small.'"
Research also shows that parents have more
influence on the drinking habits of their college-
age children than they
think.
"If parents speak with their college students about
alcohol, students are
less likely to have problems
with drinking," Walters says. "I encourage parents
to have a frank discussion about alcohol with their
children, especially when they are going to
college, or making a transition from a dorm to a
fraternity house, or heading into a period of risk,
like spring break."
So is binge drinking really that dangerous? It can
be, according to the National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism.
An estimated 1,700 college students between the
ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-
related unintentional injuries. Binge drinking also
causes 599,000 injuries and contributes to
97,000
cases of sexual assault or date rape each year.
Drinking too much, too fast also increases a
student's risk for getting in trouble with the law,
engaging in risky sexual behavior and can affect a
student's academic career.
"Students who binge drink are less likely to make
good decisions, are more aggressive and may not
make good decisions about who they go home
with or if they should get behind the wheel,"
Walters says. "In worst-case scenarios, alcohol
poisoning can result."
Other Resources:
Complete package information
for students, parents and educators:
www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov
“On average, college students drink a little more than adults, but what makes college drinking so risky is the pattern,” Walters says, who also is lead author of the report. “Instead of drinking small amounts all through the week, they’re more likely to save it up and drink it all at once. It’s the bunching together of drinks (also known as binge drinking) that makes college drinking particularly risky.”
And nowhere does that bunching occur more than spring break, Walters says. “The average student drinks three times as much during spring break as he or she would during a normal weekend. This is true for students who usually drink, and is also true for many students who usually abstain. Many abstainers jump ship during spring break.”
The online program asks students a series of questions about their drinking. Based on their responses,
“It can be a real surprise to some students to find out they’re in the 95th percentile in terms of their drinking – it just never occurred to them,” say Walters.
The study involved 350 college students who were randomly selected to receive or not receive feedback from e-CHUG. All students completed follow-up assessments at eight and 16 weeks. Compared to students who did not receive feedback, there was a significant drop at eight weeks in the number of drinks per week among students who received the feedback.
Although both groups decreased their drinking over 16 weeks, the feedback group showed a reduction in drinking much earlier than the group that did not receive feedback.
The results suggest that e-CHUG accelerated a decline in heavy drinking, researchers report. Also, after receiving feedback, students were much more accurate in estimating how their drinking compared with that of others. Students who were more accurate in estimating their consumption compared to other students also showed the largest reductions in drinking behavior.
“Students who travel and students who spend Spring break with friends are more likely to drink than students who go home or do a service project,” Walters says. “As a result of heavy drinking, there is more violence, sexual assaults and property damage at a big cost to the community.”
e-CHUG, which stands for “electronic Check-Up to Go,” is managed by the San Diego State University Research Foundation. The program is customized and individually site-licensed to more than 300 college campuses in 42 states. The program was based on Walters’ doctoral research and he wrote the text for the website. “I don't receive any royalties from the program, and thus have no conflict of interest. I also don't manage the program, or have any influence on how it's run,” he adds. Walters is simply gratified that the program has had such a positive effect on the lives—and futures—of students.
“It’s really remarkable when you think about it. A program that takes less than 10 minutes and involves no face-to-face contact can influence drinking patterns over the length of a college semester,” says Walters.
Already, about 25,000 students have taken this five-minute survey and Walters says that they are about to launch a high-school version. “We’re just hoping that after a student takes the survey that the next time they’re at a party and someone hands them a beer bong, they’ll be able to say ‘no, man, I’m OK’ and walk away.”
Walters is also the co-author of Talking with College Students About Alcohol: Motivational Strategies for Reducing Abuse. (Guilford Press, 2006). Other authors of the study are Amanda Vader and T. Robert Harris, Ph.D., associate professor of biostatistics – both at the Dallas Regional Campus of the UT School of Public Health.
Other contributors to this story: Anissa Anderson Orr and Karen Krakower
UPDATED: 3-15-2007
Editorial Board | Legal Disclaimer | Privacy & Security | Contact Us
©2000-2006 Office of Institutional Advancement, UT-Houston
Dr. Scott Walters is an assistant professor of health promotion and behavioral sciences at the UT School of Public Health.
See Dr. Walters also at:
Food Irradiation
and Safety
On August 22, 2008, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a final rule that allows the use of irradiation to make fresh iceberg lettuce and fresh spinach safer and last longer without spoiling.
Irradiating fresh iceberg lettuce and spinach will help protect consumers from disease-causing bacteria such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli). Illnesses from these bacteria range from uncomfortable symptoms to life-threatening health problems.
The foods affected by the final rule are
Irradiation (also sometimes termed "ionizing radiation") is a process of treating products with a measured dose of radiation. Food irradiation is not new. FDA has conducted irradiation safety evaluations for more than 40 years and has determined the process to be safe for use on a variety of foods.
After studying the safety of irradiating fresh iceberg lettuce and fresh spinach, FDA has determined that these greens, when irradiated under the conditions specified in the final rule, retain their nutrient value and are safe to eat.
FDA considers irradiation a complement to, not a replacement for, proper food-handling by producers, processors, and consumers. Irradiation is just another tool to reduce the levels of disease-causing microorganisms on fresh iceberg lettuce and fresh pinach.
Irradiation does not take the place of washing. FDA continues to recommend that consumers wash fresh and bagged produce before eating unless the packaging specifically states that the product has been pre-washed.
For more information, go to: http://www.fda.gov)
