The University of Texas-Austin research found 78 percent of students cited ill effects, including hangovers (54 percent). Of 44 percent who had blackouts, 22 percent found out later they had sex, 22 percent got in a fight or argument, and 39 percent didn’t know how they got home.
Although the study focused on only one campus, researchers say the new level of “extreme drinking” goes way beyond “binging”–four or five drinks in one sitting–and it’s a phenomenon probably being repeated at schools across the country, researchers say. Studying 21st-birthday celebrations is a new area of research, and no national studies have been done, but studies on a handful of other campuses have found similar extremes.
Of more than 2,200 students in the four-year drinking study that began in 2004, researchers randomly selected 152 students for an in-depth analysis focused on 21st-birthday drinking, including in-person interviews. All but two said they drank to celebrate.
Discussion Starters
1.) Is alcohol a temptation for you? Have you heard adults speak about drinking responsibly? How many drinks do you think is a “responsible” limit?
3.) Have they known alcoholics or seen the impact alcoholism has on someone they know? Do you think circumstantial binge drinking leads to alcoholism?
4.) What other special — and memorable — ways can your students think of to mark significant milestones?
