Rauchwarg 1
Danielle Rauchwarg
Dr. Elizabeth Elam
English 150
10 November 2015
The Causes of Binge Drinking
Binge drinking is a huge issue on college campuses today. Binge drinking is loosely defined as drinking an excess amount of alcohol at one time. Most weekends, students will hear stories from their friends about a huge party that happened, and usually something embarrassing that happened at the party. This overindulgence of drinking is caused by many different factors. Binge drinking on college campuses is caused by increased stress, growth of depression, and encouragement from peers through peer pressure.
There are many different reasons why a college student would have increased stress. Each semester, college students get a whole new course load. This causes increased stress, which could lead to drinking in order to relieve that stress. For freshmen, everything is new. Freshmen not only have to get used to new classes for the semester, but they also have to get used to learning from professors in a different type of classroom setting then they are used to from high school. Freshmen also just have to get used to college in general. They have to adjust to living with a roommate, eating in the dining hall, and time management. And finally, there is the constant stress of being responsible for oneself and having to do an abundance of responsibilities.
Responsibilities are a large stressor for college students. Students have to be self-motivated in order to succeed. This includes the motivation to do homework, study for tests, do laundry, grocery shop, and many other chores and responsibilities. To some, this is easy. But, to many others, this is a very difficult and strenuous task.“Researchers believe that acute stress levels have a significant impact on the amount of alcohol consumed by college students in a typical drinking session” (College Students Under Stress). Stress leads many college students to drink, and some of this stress comes from the overwhelming responsibilities college students face.
Binge drinking is also caused by the growth of depression. Depression or sadness affects most college students at some point. This could be caused by homesickness. For some students, college is the first time being away from home. Depression also comes from not making friends quickly. This applies mostly to college freshmen, but making friends in college takes some time. Many people do not realize that they will not go right to college and make friends. This leads to sadness and loneliness, which leads to drinking. And, depression comes from the stress and pressure to do well in school. Most students’ parents are paying for their tuition, or they are paying themselves with the help of student loans. This means that there is a tremendous pressure to do really well in school. This could motivate some students, and lead others to depression and drinking. “Moving away from parents and friends, establishing a new social support system, meeting academic expectations, and living in a new environment may pose problems for some students, particularly those who experienced some depressive symptoms prior to the transition” (Geisner, Mallet, Kilmer). Binge drinking is caused by the growth of depression in college students from multiple factors.
Peer pressure is one of the leading causes of binge drinking in college students.One factor of peer pressure is trying to fit in with new friends. Bruffee wrote, “Those are the terms of membership that fraternities and sororities offer. In return, these social clubs provide companionship that is predictable, reliable, aesthetically unimaginative, and intellectually unchallenging. So-called ‘wild parties’ and the binge drinking that fuels them are misguided attempts to breathe life into stultifying conventionality” (Bruffee 344). Students also think binge drinking is the “cool” thing to do because their friends say so. Lastly, peer pressure causes students to drink because they think that everybody else is doing it so they need to as well in order to be the same. Peer pressure is a terrible thing that leads to way too much binge drinking.
Binge drinking on college campuses is a nationwide problem. This is almost inevitable because college students have the newfound freedom from their parents and think they are invincible. Even though terrible things come from drinking, especially when it is done irresponsibly, students continue to drink excess amounts every weekend or even during the week. Binge drinking is directly caused by increased stress, growth of depression, and encouragement from peer pressure.
Works Cited
Ken Bruffee: “Binge Drinking as a Substitue for a Community of Learning” by Ken Bruffee from Chronicle of Higher Education Feb. 9, 1999.
"College Students Under Stress Turn to Alcohol." Promises Addiction Treatment Alcohol Drug Rehab Malibu. N.p., 13 Apr. 2015. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
Geisner, Irene Markman, Kimberly Mallett, and Jason R. Kilmer. "An Examination of Depressive Symptoms and Drinking Patterns in First Year College Students." Issues in Mental Health Nursing. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 15 May 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.