Alcohol use on college campuses is most commonly discussed in terms of prevalence of binge drinking. It appears that the alcohol culture on college campuses is increasing to the point that binge drinking is the norm rather than the exception. Studies in the early part of this decade indicated that 44% students reported binge drinking in the past 30 days. Studies conducted at a New England university and a Mid Western university indicate that more than 60% of students have been binge drinking and have no intentions of stopping. Additional samples from the Mid Western university track the amount of binge drinking across time and after an online intervention aimed at first year students.
The samples were examined using a Transtheoretical Model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982, 1983) approach to binge drinking. Each participant was staged according to the model to determine the level of readiness to change his or her binge drinking behaviors. In addition, one sample (consisting primarily of first year students) from the Mid Western university was examined to determine the relationship between Transtheoretical Model constructs for binge drinking in an effort to inform future interventions. A structural equation model determined that the Pros of Drinking and Cons of Drinking predicted the participants binge drinking stage of change very well, chi-square (42, n=496)=208.04, CFI=.95, TLI=.93, RMSEA=.089.
Examination of the samples from two major universities at different time points help to explore the impact of region, online intervention, and time period on the prevalence of binge drinking. In short, the Mid Western university students reported binge drinking more, the online intervention raised awareness about binge drinking, but did not appear to change behaviors, and as first years students become acclimated to the collegiate environment, they tend to drink more. Implications of the findings and potential uses will be discussed.