Binge Drinking and University Students.

Binge drinking is defined as "drinking large quantities of alcohol in one sitting, 5+ standard drinks for men and 4+ for women" (Ham & Hope, 2003, p. 720), and has been identified as the number one substance abuse problem in university life (Syre et al., 1997, cited in Morawska & Oei, 2005). However, definitions of binge drinking are complicated by the way 'binge drinking' is operationally defined therefore making it difficult to examine and compare college problem drinking (Clements, 1999, …

…availability, such as increases in price, and responsible beverage service practices, especially at parties, increased rigidness in rules, although, the best on campus policies cannot succeed if off campus retail outlets continue to serve alcohol to underage or intoxicated students, or if students are shielded from the law enforcement consequences of their behaviour. School administrators need to reach out to local officials to invite their participation in developing a community wide approach to this problem.