Spring Break
Underage drinking
Part 1
Lindsay Bryant
Issue date: 5/3/07 Section: The Gold Fold
Through four years of research and thousands of surveys, Nelson and his colleagues found correlations between underage drinking, violent crimes and high-risk sexual behavior.
"Our general findings were that the higher level of alcohol consumption is related to harmful behavior," Nelson said Tuesday.
Surveying 4,527 college students across the country, Nelson and other Harvard University professors assessed underage drinkers with questions of accessibility, frequency, number of drinks and characteristics of binge drinking.
"This is especially true for large groups," Nelson said.
According to the Harvard study, "Underage college students' drinking behavior, access to alcohol and deterrence policies," binge drinking can be considered four to five drinks in a single episode or "drinking to get drunk."
The effects shown in the study proved that "the incidence of alcohol is directly linked to increased numbers of morbidity and mortality in the U.S.," Nelson said.
A similar study published in 2005 examined the adverse results from underage binge drinkers on college campuses and the rate compared to the alcohol policy in each state.
The results found that the more lax the law, the more binge drinking, violence, sexual assaults and other crimes, such as theft and vandalism, occur on college campuses. Death rates are also higher, especially in vehicular accidents.
"Alcohol is related to every violent crime on campus," Laws said. "Especially sex offenses."
The prepotency for crime on campus thus increases with every drunk student.
And with the SJSU alcohol policy stating that any person violating state or federal law will be subject to penalties established by these laws, students living on campus see the consequences increase.
"There are thousands who have violated the student code of conduct," SJSU Judicial Officer Debra Griffith said. "But we do not have definite numbers on how many were related to underage drinking."
"Our general findings were that the higher level of alcohol consumption is related to harmful behavior," Nelson said Tuesday.
Surveying 4,527 college students across the country, Nelson and other Harvard University professors assessed underage drinkers with questions of accessibility, frequency, number of drinks and characteristics of binge drinking.
"This is especially true for large groups," Nelson said.
According to the Harvard study, "Underage college students' drinking behavior, access to alcohol and deterrence policies," binge drinking can be considered four to five drinks in a single episode or "drinking to get drunk."
The effects shown in the study proved that "the incidence of alcohol is directly linked to increased numbers of morbidity and mortality in the U.S.," Nelson said.
A similar study published in 2005 examined the adverse results from underage binge drinkers on college campuses and the rate compared to the alcohol policy in each state.
The results found that the more lax the law, the more binge drinking, violence, sexual assaults and other crimes, such as theft and vandalism, occur on college campuses. Death rates are also higher, especially in vehicular accidents.
"Alcohol is related to every violent crime on campus," Laws said. "Especially sex offenses."
The prepotency for crime on campus thus increases with every drunk student.
And with the SJSU alcohol policy stating that any person violating state or federal law will be subject to penalties established by these laws, students living on campus see the consequences increase.
"There are thousands who have violated the student code of conduct," SJSU Judicial Officer Debra Griffith said. "But we do not have definite numbers on how many were related to underage drinking."
Be the first to comment on this story