Underage Drinking Among College Students: Causes and Solutions
This literature review examines underage and binge drinking among college students, exploring the personal, cultural, and environmental factors that contribute to this widespread public health problem. Drawing on multiple peer-reviewed studies, the paper analyzes the prevalence of heavy episodic drinking on campus, identifies causal factors such as living arrangements, peer culture, and institutional environments, and evaluates the effectiveness of four major intervention strategies: alcohol education programs, social norms campaigns, counter-marketing, and policy enforcement. The review concludes that a comprehensive, multi-component approach combining social norms campaigns with community coalitions and consistent law enforcement offers the most promising path to reducing harmful drinking behavior among college students.
- Introduction: Research question, scope, and purpose defined
- Prevalence and Consequences of College Drinking: Statistics on binge drinking and its harms
- Problem Analysis: Causal Factors: Cultural, environmental, and institutional drivers of drinking
- Intervention Strategies and Their Effectiveness: Four strategies evaluated: education, norms, marketing, policy
- Recommended Frameworks for Reducing College Drinking: NIAAA three-in-one framework and coalition approach
- Conclusions: Synthesis favoring combined norms and enforcement approaches
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What makes this paper effective
- It grounds every claim in cited empirical research, drawing on multiple peer-reviewed journals to build a credible evidence base rather than relying on opinion.
- It moves logically from defining the scope of the problem, to diagnosing causal factors, to evaluating solutions — giving the paper a clear analytical arc.
- It avoids advocating for a single solution, instead systematically weighing the strengths and limitations of four distinct intervention strategies before arriving at a synthesized recommendation.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of a literature review as an analytical tool. Rather than simply summarizing sources, the author compares and contrasts findings across studies — for example, noting that Paek and Hove (2012) found an inverse relationship between alcohol education programs and drinking behavior, then using Brown, Matousek and Radue (2009) to reinforce the case for enforcement-based approaches. This comparative synthesis is the hallmark of a strong literature review.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a framing introduction that establishes statistical scope and poses a research question. A problem analysis section follows, cataloguing causal factors from neurological development to campus geography. The solutions section then evaluates four intervention strategies, reporting both supporting evidence and documented limitations. A framework section presents the NIAAA's recommended multi-component approach. The conclusion synthesizes findings and issues a call to action. This is a textbook problem–analysis–solution structure well suited to public health topics.
Introduction
The establishment of age 21 as the minimum legal age for consuming alcoholic beverages has resulted in substantial decreases in alcohol-related traffic accidents. Nevertheless, alcohol consumption by underage students remains a prevalent problem on college campuses. Furthermore, alcohol consumption remains problematic even after students reach the legal drinking age, as statistics indicate that alcohol-related fatalities on college and university campuses are not uncommon. It has become culturally embedded among numerous student bodies that excessive alcohol consumption is an expected rite of passage.
While the consequences of this behavior are typically short-term for the vast majority of students, it can also produce long-term consequences by establishing patterns of behavior, addiction, and dependency that disrupt adult life and ruin promising futures. The following review of literature explores the research question: What are the factors and characteristics associated with underage drinking among college students, and what effect do these features have on promoting this social behavior? The primary purpose of this investigation is to identify how the factors associated with underage drinking influence the behavior, and how those factors may be addressed through effective alcohol intervention programs.
Prevalence and Consequences of College Drinking
In 2001, statistics indicate that roughly 1,700 college students died due to alcohol-related injuries (Brown, Matousek, & Radue, 2009). This trend suggests that binge drinking is increasing on college campuses, as over one-fourth of all college students report being intoxicated at least three times during the previous month, and 12.8 percent report sustaining alcohol-related injuries (Brown, Matousek, & Radue, 2009). Research statistics also indicate that roughly 50 percent of male students and 36 percent of female students can be categorized as heavy episodic drinkers (Linowski & DiFulvio, 2012). Recent statistics support the finding that heavy drinking among college students is widespread (Kazemi et al., 2011). A Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study reported that 44 percent of the college population can be classified as binge drinkers (Kazemi et al., 2011). Binge drinking is associated with a range of negative consequences, including increased rates of rape, violence, suicide, academic failure, and sexually transmitted diseases (Kazemi et al., 2011). The literature also reports that underage drinkers consume alcohol on fewer occasions than legal-age drinkers, but when they do drink, they are more likely to drink to excess (Wechsler & Nelson, 2010).
Consistent misuse of alcohol has been shown to lead to long-term health complications, such as cirrhosis of the liver, hypertension, and cancer (Kiernan, Fhearall, & Coyne, 2012). Additional negative consequences include "academic difficulties, legal problems and unsafe sex" (Brown, Matousek, & Radue, 2009, p. 611). Secondary effects include "property damage and vandalism, fights, sexual violence, and reduced quality of life" (Brown, Matousek, & Radue, 2009, p. 611). The economic cost of underage drinking has been estimated at $53 billion annually (Brown, Matousek, & Radue, 2009).
References
Brown, R. L., Matousek, T. A., & Radue, M. B. (2009). Legal-age students' provision of alcohol to underage college students: An exploratory study. Journal of American College Health, 57(6), 611–618.
Hoogeveen, P. (2014). A call for new strategies to address student high-risk drinking. Education Digest, 79(7), 62–65.
Kazemi, D. M., Wagenfeld, M., Levine, M. J., & Dmochowski, J. (2011). Binge drinking among underage college students: Role of impulsivity and the transtheoretical model. Journal of Addictions Nursing, 22(4), 193–199. doi:10.3109/10884602.2011.616605
Kiernan, C., Fhearall, A. N., & Coyne, I. (2012). Nurses' role in managing alcohol misuse among adolescents. British Journal of Nursing, 21(8), 474–478.
Linowski, S. A., & DiFulvio, G. T. (2012). Mobilizing for change: A case study of a campus and community coalition to reduce high-risk drinking. Journal of Community Health, 37, 685–693. doi:10.1007/s10900-011-9500-5
Paek, H., & Hove, T. (2012). Determinants of underage college student drinking: Implications for four major alcohol reduction strategies. Journal of Health Communication, 17(6), 659–676. doi:10.1080/10810730.2011.635765
Wechsler, H., & Nelson, T. (2010). Will increasing alcohol availability by lowering the minimum legal drinking age decrease drinking and related consequences among youths? American Journal of Public Health, 100(6), 986–992. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.178004
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