Breakthrough research at Michigan State University is driving a new campaign to help students use alcohol responsibly during celebrations. The pilot program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. If effective, it could be duplicated at colleges nationwide.
"Unlike previous educational efforts, which have focused on student drinking in general, the new campaign targets a selected group of high-risk drinking events. We are trying to encourage students to consume less alcohol on celebratory occasions," said Jasmine Greenamyer, lead health educator for alcohol and other drugs at the university's Olin Health Center.
"Because this kind of drinking occurs almost exclusively in the company of friends, we also want to encourage friends to watch out for each other," she said.
A team that included researchers from Olin Health Center, the MSU Department of Communication and the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) conducted a survey of 1,162 MSU students last May.
The survey focused on student drinking during seven "celebratory" occasions: the week before the start of fall semester ("welcome week"), Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, home-game football Saturdays, the MSU vs. University of Michigan home-game football Saturday, the end of fall semester and spring break. In focus groups held before the survey, students told researchers that these were the occasions likely to give rise to celebration drinking.
"We suspect that celebration drinking as a phenomenon occurs among students and non-students alike," said Greenamyer.
"However, on other campuses or among non-student adults, there might be a very different set of occasions that leads to celebration drinking -- for example, the Super Bowl, July 4 or New Year's Eve. Our study looked at only those events that fall within the academic calendar and only those that the focus groups identified as likely events among MSU students."
Among the key findings:
Students who drink during welcome week, the end of fall semester and spring break reported getting drunk at higher rates than students who drink during a typical week. Furthermore, especially for welcome week and spring break, students who drink reported a greater average number of drinks consumed than did students during a typical week.
Students drink more during home-game football Saturdays than they do on typical Saturdays. Students were roughly 44 percent more likely to report getting drunk on the Saturday of the MSU vs. UM football game than during a typical Saturday; they were roughly 12 percent more likely to report getting drunk on other football Saturdays.
Students reported drinking appreciably more on Halloween and St. Patrick's Day than they do during a non-holiday. Approximately 57 percent of those who drank on one or both of those occasions said they got drunk.
"This research reveals consistent patterns," says Dennis Martell, health educator at Olin and a co-principal investigator of the study.
"The percentage of students who drink on celebration days is greater than the percentage who drink on typical days. Those who drink tend to drink more and over a longer period of time during celebration days and a higher percentage of students get drunk on celebration days."
Martell says these findings demonstrate that "celebration drinking" among college students triggers more individuals to drink and to drink to excess. He surmises this is because celebrations provide ready-made occasions during which it is socially acceptable to drink larger quantities of alcohol and in which peer pressure and crowd dynamics play an important role.
Students are also less likely than other adults to face personal or career sanctions for drinking to excess on celebratory occasions, say the researchers. Some of the restraints that help adults drink within their limits during these events, such as family and job responsibilities, simply don't exist for most students.
"We found that many students actually intend to protect themselves from excessive drinking or the problems that can result from this behavior," said Larry Hembroff, senior survey methodologist at IPPSR's Office for Survey Research and lead evaluator of the study.
"However, many overestimate the amount of alcohol they can consume without putting themselves at risk of serious health problems. Even if they do know their limit, many get caught up in the spirit of the occasion and lose track of how much they've had to drink.
"Despite whatever plans or expectations individuals may have going into such situations, it is easy for them to get drawn into the 'culture' of the event, to be swayed by the enthusiasm or excitement of the situation and to be influenced by the actions and suggestions of others. In celebration events, the crowd is bigger and the drinking expectations of many are higher to begin with. We think this makes the 'culture' of the situational crowd even more influential than on other occasions. Consequently, even if students participating in a celebration have the best of intentions to keep themselves safe, they may get in over their head before they know what is happening."
Other findings of the survey:
28 percent of students reported that they party out of a sense of obligation rather than a desire to drink or get drunk.
Only 5 percent said they party to get drunk, while most want to have fun (65 percent), get together with friends (60 percent) and celebrate (40 percent).
30 percent feel uncomfortable if they are not drinking and "everyone else" is.
15 percent feel a need to drink quickly to catch up to those who may have started drinking before them.
62 percent have tried to stop a friend who was drinking too much.
"The educational campaign based on these findings will help students learn how to watch out for each other, even when the prevailing celebratory mood works against that," said Charles Atkin, chairperson of the Department of Communication and a co-principal investigator of the study. "Students will learn how to recognize the warning signs of high-risk drinking and what to do if a friend exceeds his or her limits."
The campaign, which encourages students to influence their heavy-drinking friends through role modeling and persuasive communication, will supplement messages aimed directly at high-risk drinkers. Its slogan is "Friends watch out for friends."
The campaign will also challenge the culture of celebratory traditions by helping students find alternative ways to participate in them. It will run through the 2002-03 academic year and includes paid advertising, posters and brochures.
"Our goal is to prevent occasions of celebration from turning into occasions of regret," said Martell.
An executive summary of study results and campaign materials are available at http://www.ippsr.msu.edu/OSR/CelebrationDrinkingStudy.htm
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