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MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2002

Binge drinking among Native American college students is dropping but their alcohol use remains among the highest in the nation, according to a health study released on Friday.

About 34 percent of Native students engaged in the life-threatening practice in 2001, researchers from Harvard University reported. This represented a "significant" drop from 43 percent in 2000, according to the "2001 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study."

More Native students are also refraining from heavy alcohol use, the report stated. In 2001, 22 percent abstained, up from 16 percent in 1993, the researchers said.

But Native students still report binge drinking at high rates, the researchers found. About 34 percent said they consumed at least five drinks in a row for men or four drinks on a row for women in the two weeks prior to participating in the study.

This rate was shared by Hispanic students, who also showed a drop in binge drinking. White students, however, reported no change in heavy alcohol use and had the highest rate, at 50 percent, of all college students.

"The drinking style on campus is still one of excess," said Henry Wechsler, the main investigator and director of Havard's College Alcohol Studies.

Binge drinking has become of national interest due to a number of high-profile incidents. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000 agreed to pay $4.75 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a family whose underage son drank himself to death in 1997.

Native students, too, have been affected. University of New Mexico freshman Kevin Johns, an 18-year-old member of the Navajo Nation, died last November after drinking as many as 20 shots of alcohol at an off-campus Halloween party.

Efforts to reduce the problems associated with binge drinking appear to be having success in certain pockets of the college population, said the Harvard researchers. They cited a number of positive trends, such as educational campaigns, alcohol-free living environments and stricter laws.

But overall, heavy drinking among all ethnic and racial groups was unchanged at 44 percent, the researchers were forced to acknowledge. About 80 percent of students reported drinking some alcohol in the last year, according to the report.

Rates of abstention among the general population were virtually static. The percentages of "occasional" and "frequent" binge drinkers were relatively unchanged as well, the report stated.

Binge drinking cut across all age groups and college level, researchers found. Males reported at higher rate (49 percent) than females (41 percent).

The study, which will be published next month in the Journal of American College Health, was based on surveys given to students at 119 four-year-colleges. To protect student privacy, the names of the colleges are not disclosed.

Get the Study:
Trends in College Binge Drinking During a Period of Increased Prevention Efforts: Findings From 4 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study Surveys: 1993-2001 (Journal of American College Health. 2002: 50: 203-217)

Relevant Links:
Journal of American College Health - http://www.heldref.org/html/jach.html

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