National study finds strong link between large-volume liquor promotions and high rates of on-campus drinking

Members of UD’s Student Alcohol Use Committee include (from left) chairperson Tracy Bachman, director of the Building Responsibility Coalition; Kathleen Kerr, director of Residence Life; and Matthew Lenno, assistant director of student centers.

8:52 a.m., Oct. 10, 2003--For some time, college professionals and community leaders across the country have cited the probable existence of a link between problem behavior among students and easy access to cheap alcohol.

Now, documentation supporting this belief has been marshaled in a recent survey by the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS), which describes the extent to which the liquor industry targets college students through the sale of large-volume alcohol items, such as kegs, party balls and 24- and 30-can cases of beer.

The CAS survey, released in September, highlights research that indicates a strong association between the presence of large-volume liquor promotions and higher rates of on-campus drinking by college students, and many of the initiatives recommended in the national report are already under way in Delaware.

“The latest Harvard studies seem to confirm what we have been saying for some time,” John Bishop, [http://www.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2004/survey091503.html] UD associate vice president for counseling and student development, said. “The lower the price of alcohol and the more extensive the drink specials—the more likely it is that college students will drink to excess.”

According to the CAS report, previous research has indicated that underage students are responsible for consuming 48 percent of all alcohol consumed on college campuses.

“The prevalence of bars and liquor stores around college campuses is not a coincidence,” Bishop said. “The alcohol industry obviously sees the college student population as a prime market, even though most students are underage.”

Binge drinking, as defined by Henry Wechsler, principal investigator of the study and director of CAS, is the consumption of five or more drinks in a row at least once in the past two weeks for men and four or more drinks in a row for women. According to the study, research has shown that binge drinking is associated with “lower grades, vandalism, and physical and sexual violence.”

The report also noted that while previous efforts to reduce alcohol-related problems on college campus have focused primarily on education and changes in student behavior, efforts to regulate marketing practices also may be important strategies.

“Dr. Wechsler’s recommendations about the regulation of marketing practices and the importance of strong enforcement make a great deal of sense,” Bishop said. “In fact, the city of Newark, with input from the Building Responsibility Coalition has already implemented some of the strategies identified by Wechsler.”

Bishop said that these strategies include a number of suggestions submitted by the Mayor’s Alcohol Commission and acted on by Newark City Council, such as:

Restricting “happy hours” to 4-9 p.m.;

Limiting the type of banners that can be displayed to advertise drink specials;

Adopting a 0.08 percent blood alcohol level for DUI offenses in the city of Newark, and prohibiting any “open containers” of alcohol in vehicles;

Cracking down on underage drinking and the use of false IDs through the use of special ID scanners;

Requiring restaurants with alcohol licenses to operate in a manner that emphasizes the serving of food instead of being saloons that only pretend to be restaurants; and

Increasing by three the number of police officers who have specific responsibilities in enforcing the alcohol control ordinances, as well as the “cops-in-shops” program.

BRC also is in favor of a statewide keg registration law and would favor dram shop legislation at the state level, Bishop said. Dram shop liability laws hold alcohol servers responsible for harm that intoxicated or underage patrons cause others or themselves.

John Bishop, UD associate vice president for counseling and student development: “The lower the price of alcohol and the more extensive the drink specials—the more likely it is that college students will drink to excess.”

“These kinds of restrictions cannot be adopted only at a local level without putting local merchants at a competitive disadvantage,” Bishop added.

Another key ingredient in BRC’s efforts is the support by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which provided UD a five-year $700,000 grant to battle high-risk drinking and which added a second five-year $468,000 grant in 2001, Bishop said.

Bishop said the coalition is in constant communication with the eight other schools that hold Robert Wood Johnson grants: Lehigh, Louisiana State and Florida State universities, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the universities of Nebraska, Vermont, Iowa and Wisconsin.

“All of these schools also work with the American Medical Association and the Harvard School of Public Health in carrying out various aspects of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant activities,” Bishop said. “UD’s distinction is that our coalition, with more than 130 individuals, is the largest among the participating schools.”

Bishop that said UD and the city of Newark, through the Building Responsibility Coalition, will actively continue to address issues, such as the recently released CAS findings about the relationship between aggressive alcohol advertising and the corresponding increase in reports of binge drinking by college students.

“In Newark, we know that much of the bad behavior we sometimes see in students and others is related to excessive drinking, and we continue to emphasize that alcohol, as a product, should be used responsibly,” Bishop said. “We believe that good public policy and strong enforcement of these policies will make our campus and the city of Newark a safer and healthier place for all of us.”

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photo by Kathy Atkinson

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