title: A gender-specific measure of binge drinking among college students.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Social Behavior, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wechsler
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Dowdall
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Davenport
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Rimm
mesh_terms: 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