Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya

National Law University

.

Sociology Project

Inclination towards Alcohol in colleges

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Dr Sanjay Singh Mohd Ashad

Faculty of Sociology BA LLB

Head of Department Enrollment no-19101094
Contents
Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University .... 1
Before College ................... 4
Major Changes ................... 4
What We Know.................. 5
Critical Social Decisions .... 6
Risky Behaviour................. 6
Socially Desirable Images.. 6
Alcohol Effects .................. 7
Why Drink? ........................ 7
Conclusion ......................... 6
Before College
Although we think of college as a time
when young adults experiment with
alcohol, the college years are rarely the
first time students have faced decisions
about alcohol. According to the nationally
representative Monitoring the Future
Study, in 2012, 42 percent of high school
seniors reported having had alcohol (more
than just a few sips) within 30 days prior to
the survey, and 24 percent reported binge
drinking within the previous two weeks.
Moreover, 91 percent of seniors said that it
would be fairly easy or very easy for them
to obtain alcohol.
Although alcohol use begins before
students arrive at college, pressure to
misuse alcohol may be intensified when a
student starts college and is interacting
with new peers, is exposed to new norms
about alcohol use, and parents are less
present. In high school, those seniors who
are college-bound are less likely to report
heavy drinking than their classmates who
don't plan to go on to college. Once
students arrive on campus, however, they
"catch up to and pass" the young adults
who do not attend college.
College students are in a life stage
characterized by risk and testing their
limits to find out who they are, living in a
relatively unregulated environment
surrounded by same age peers (Arnett,
2000). The transition to college is a critical
time for parents to intervene and work to
prevent alcohol misuse. In some cases,
students arrive at the University with
drinking problems that have reached the
level of addiction. Parents are often
unaware of the drinking habits their
student has developed, and the University
has no way of screening for alcohol use
during the college admissions process.
Nevertheless, we know we will be working
with some freshmen every year who have
long-standing patterns of drinking.
Major Changes
The transition to college requires major
changes in every aspect of a student's life.
Students are looking for new friends who
will provide support and intimacy, and
they are working to develop their identity
as college students . It can be helpful to
consider alcohol use and heavy drinking in
relation to the developmental stages young
adults are encountering. Certainly, there
are variations in how different students
react to the changes they face and their
methods of coping, but some increases
during college are part of developmental
stages that potentially could be viewed as
serving some positive purposes along with
negative ones
Young adults are thinking about how
others perceive them. It may be that
students acquire ideas (from media and
through social norms) that drinking
moderate to large amounts in college will
make them more fun and exciting to their
peers. Adults and students alike participate
in behaviors that they have the most
positive attitudes towards . In college there
is often support from peers for drinking;
and the more a student perceives others as
drinking heavily or approving of heavy
alcohol use, the more likely a student is to
drink heavily . Fortunately college is also a
time when young people start to think
about the consequences of alcohol use ,
and they become better able to make
responsible decisions.
What We Know
What do we know about the
relationship between alcohol use in high
school and alcohol use in college?
A number of risk factors during a student's
senior year in high school have been
identified:
Risk factors for binge drinking:
• male
• White
• lower GPA
• conformity
• higher levels of antisocial behavior
• drinking to get drunk
• drinking to cope
• expecting future use of alcohol
• quantity of time spent with friends
However, it's important to keep in mind
that many young people consider college
drinking normal and temporary.
Consequently, we can't accurately predict
significant increases or decreases in binge
drinking during the college years and
beyond. Even dangerous levels of drinking
during the college years do not always
indicate a long-term problem with alcohol
use. In fact, we cannot predict problems
with alcohol in adulthood from one's peak
level of binge drinking during college.
Critical Social Decisions
One student talks about how his
experiences changed from high school to
college:
"High school was more of a social factor
altogether. You know you're there, you get
to hang out with all your friends during
passing times and lunch. Most of high
school is just busy work to keep you going.
Where college is more just test and exam,
what you need to know, less of the busy
work, which means they can cut down on
the time required to be in the classroom.
And a detriment to that is that they give
you more rope to hang yourself with in a
college setting. So here it's less busy work,
but the work does get harder, and that cuts
into social time...so it's up to you to choose
how much social life you have compared
to your study time."
No matter what a student's high school
drinking record was, one of the first and
most critical social decisions that he or she
will make at the University relates to
alcohol. Nearly all students will encounter
alcohol at some point, whether they use it
themselves or deal with a roommate, a
friend, or a neighbour who is drinking. It's
important for parents and students to keep
in mind that choosing whether or not to
drink is not a one-time decision. Students
will have multiple opportunities nearly
every weekend to attend parties where
alcohol is served, and they will be making
a choice every time an opportunity comes
up.
Risky Behaviour
Many parents are deeply concerned if they
learn their student has engaged in so-called
risky behaviours. For college students,
though, participating in some risky
behaviours such as drinking alcohol does
not necessarily result in problems for
students' long-term academic success. It is
important to consider behaviors in the
broader context of the student's life and
development. For example, if the risky
behavior takes place in the context of a
group of highly motivated and otherwise
physically and emotionally healthy young
people, it is unlikely that the risky behavior
will, in and of itself, have extremely
negative consequences. In contrast, if the
risky behavior is part of a broader
syndrome or "pattern" of negative or
dangerous behaviors then the risky
behavior is likely to indicate a problem that
may even require treatment or intervention
Socially Desirable Images
People are motivated to behave in ways
that will project socially desirable images
of themselves. Concerns about peer
acceptance, social approval, and having
an image that you're "one of the crowd"
may be particularly strong determinants
of drinking behavior among college
students. The most frequently desired
impressions that motivate first-year
students to drink alcohol are "cool/laid
back" and "fun/social". Seventy-five
percent of firstyear college students
report performing at least one risky
behavior (most commonly alcohol use) Not all individuals who drink experience
during their first semester in order to "fit negative consequences, and not all
in". individuals who experience negative
consequences are going to experience them
"You learn that if you don't drink, it's kinda
every time they drink. The experience of
like, 'Oh she's not having fun.' They look
negative consequences, then, is going to be
down on you. If you do drink, it's like
based, at least in part, on factors other than
you're more open to be more social and
drinking.
people are, 'OK, she's one of us, she's more
into socializing.' That kind of thing."
Why Drink?
Students who report being introverted,
Students sometimes drink because they
lonely, or having low self esteem might be
think alcohol makes it easier to meet other
expected to drink alcohol to present
people, relaxes their social inhibitions, and
themselves as fun and exciting. But these
helps them have more fun. When asked
expectancies have not been found to
whether they believe alcohol has the
determine drinking behavior among this
following effects, the percentages below
group of students.
indicate the rates of college students who
answered "yes" .
Alcohol Effects
• Breaks the ice: 74.4% •
The more students drink, the more likely
they will suffer negative consequences. Enhances social activity:
Those consequences can range in severity
74.4%
from having a hangover, performing
poorly on a test, or missing class to getting • Gives people something to do:
into an argument or fight, driving under the 71.7%
influence, being hurt or injured, or being
taken advantage of sexually.

When students experience more positive

alcohol effects one week, they consume
more alcohol the following week.
However, the experience of negative
alcohol effects does not predict reduced
binge drinking the next week.
 Gives people something to talk
• about: 66.6%

• Allows people to have more fun:

63.1%

• Facilitates male bonding: 60.1%

• Facilitates a connection with peers

61.7%

• Facilitates sexual opportunities:

53.0%

• Facilitates female bonding: 28.8%

• Makes women sexier: 28.8%

• Makes food taste better: 22.7%

• Makes me sexier: 20.4%

• Makes men sexier: 19.9%