binge drinking Essay -- essays research papers fc

What Causes Binge Drinking   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Binge Drinking is an intriguing phenomenon that many college students take part in all across the country. The issue of binge drinking has been a problem on college campuses for decades. Binge drinking has many horrible effects, but the problem starts with the causes for it. If the causes could be controlled then the issue would not get out of hand. Many college students give different causes for their drinking problems, and experts on the subject have their explanations as well. The problem is, while growing through adolescence anything can become an excuse for drinking, such as  ¡Ã‚ §its Thursday the day before Friday, we need to drink ¡Ã‚ ¨ or,  ¡Ã‚ §it ¡Ã‚ ¦s the last Wednesday of the semester, lets get some beer. ¡Ã‚ ¨   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Binge drinking has different definitions but many would agree that  ¡Ã‚ §Binge drinking has been defined as drinking more than 4-5 drinks in a row in one sitting. A drink is defined as a 12 ounce can or bottle of beer, a wine cooler, a four ounce glass of wine, or a shot of liquor ¡Ã‚ ¨ (Rhodes 1). Others believe that men who consume 5-6 drinks and women who consume 4-5 drinks are also considered Binge Drinkers. Personally I do not think that sex matters, if someone is consuming multiple drinks to become highly intoxicated they should be considered a Binge Drinker.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One article that covers the results of a national survey states that  ¡Ã‚ §Adolescents ¡Ã‚ ¦ levels of alcohol and drug use have been found to be strongly associated with peers ¡Ã‚ ¦ use. However, other studies have shown that a student ¡Ã‚ ¦s drinking was more strongly influenced by how much he or she thought close friends drank than by perceptions of the extent of use by students in general ¡Ã‚ ¨(Results 2). This is a statement that I can agree with because growing up I have watched many young people become greatly influenced by their friends. Now a days the phrase  ¡Ã‚ §peer pressure ¡Ã‚ ¨ concentrates on pressure from a direct group of friends rather than a students peers as a whole. Another reason the article gives for the cause of Binge Drinking is that  ¡Ã‚ §Students who perceive that more drinking occurs than actually does provide themselves with an excuse for drinking more because  ¡Ã‚ ¥everyone is doing it ¡Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ ¨ (Results 2). E veryone knows that most youngsters want what every other kid has, this idea relates in the... ...nge drinking. Almost anything can become a cause for binge drinking. There are things that directly lead to drinking problems such as depression but most of the causes for it are just any old excuse. If I had to decide on main causes for binge drinking they would be depression and simple excuses that give students a reason to drink. People that are depressed usually have thoughts of giving up on life, so by drinking they are just easing their pain. Most of the binge drinking that goes on in college is because students feel that they are supposed to drink, its a college tradition in a way. This is why students will use any excuse they can to drink. Works Cited Anxiety and Binge Drinking. 30 Oct. 2000. Houser, Regan. Message in a Bottle. 30 Oct. 2000. Prevention Primer: Binge Drinking. 30 Oct.2000. Wechsler, Henry and Kuo, Meichun. College Students Define Binge Drinking and Estimate Its Prevalence: Results of a National Survey. EBSCO Publishing 29 Oct. 2000