The power of philosophy, policies, programs, practices, and participation: alcohol-related institutional congruence and college students' attitudes and behaviors

Abstract

Alcohol abuse among college students continues to be a serious problem facing American higher education. Despite the efforts of colleges and universities to address this problem, current data reveal no significant changes in college student drinking, specifically binge/heavy episodic drinking-the consumption of five or more drinks in a row for men and four or more drinks in a row for women. The Harvard School of Public Health's 2001 resurvey of institutions involved in the 1993,1997, and 1999 College Alcohol Studies indicated no significant change in the overall binge drinking rate among college students from 1993 to 2001, which remained constant at approximately 44% (Wechsler et al., 2002). Wechsler et al. asserted that "the lack of change in binge drinking among college students since 1993 is notable, given the significant efforts [of colleges and universities] to combat this problem" (p. 215).