A gender-specific measure of binge drinking among college students.
This study examined the relationship of volume of alcohol consumed to the occurrence of alcohol-related problems among male and female college students to develop a gender-specific measure of heavy episodic or binge drinking by college students for public health research. A self-administered survey was mailed to a national representative sample of students at 140 4-year colleges in 40 states and the District of Columbia. A total of 17,592 college students completed the survey. Women who typically drink four drinks in a row were found to have roughly the same likelihood of experiencing drinking-related problems as men who typically drink five drinks in a row. Use of the same standard for both sexes underestimates binge drinking and the negative health risks for women.
Wechsler
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Department of Health and Social Behavior, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Dowdall
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GW
Davenport
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A
Rimm
E B
EB
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012309:Risk-Taking; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology