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"I drank because I was in college, away from home, and all my suitemates were doing it," Molina said will a little smile on his face. "We would drink many days in a row.".
The need to grow up quickly and feel adult can lead students to begin drinking when they are too young or uninformed to make effective decisions. Low self-esteem and feelings of personal inadequacy, feelings common among entering college freshmen, can also make students engage in dangerous activities.
"For many freshman, it is their first time away from home, and they don't know what kinds of things they can do on campus," Peter Czabafy, a drug and alcohol educator said. "They get invited to parties and they want to fit in and have fun, so they drink.".
People with this problem usually lack respect for their bodies and the confidence to stand up to peer pressure. Students also quickly discover that those things that lead to natural highs, such as achievements or friendships, take real work and dedication. Alcohol, on the other hand, gives an easy high, and an escape from the stress.
Typical characteristics of binge drinkers include: male, fraternity and sorority members, white, under 24 years of age, involved in athletics, and students who socialize a great deal. White males were found to be the most likely group to binge drink and African-American females were the least likely to binge drink (Wechsler, 1996). Historically black colleges, women's colleges, commuter schools and schools in the western United States have less binge drinking. Also, students involved in community service, the arts or studying a great deal were less likely to binge drink. Finally, less than half of binge drinkers considered religion an important part of their lives (Wechsler, 1996).
Most binge drinkers do not consider themselves to be problem drinkers, which adds to the difficulty in solving this college epidemic. They see binge drinking as merely a way to have a good time, but many are blind to the harm it can cause.
