Are College Students Abusing Substances? Signs Point to No

For some, the words "college" and "partying" go hand in hand, as students are no longer living under their parents households and may use this time of freedom to experiment like never before. But just because students can abuse substances doesn’t mean that they will, and contrary to popular belief, most of them don’t.

When it comes to alcohol use, more college students perceive that their peers use it than they actually do. According to American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment in Fall 2009, only 4.6% of students perceived that the typical student at their school had never used alcohol, but 26.9% of students actually reported that they had never consumed an alcoholic beverage. Ninety-three percent of students perceived that the typical student at their school had used alcohol within the past 30 days, while only 59.2% of students reported actually using it. Of those who had used alcohol within the past month, 11.4% had consumed alcohol on 10 to 29 days of the month and most students, 46.9%, consumed alcohol one to nine days of the month. In the study, students were asked how much they drank the last time they "partied" or socialized, 38.5% said they consumed four or less alcoholic drinks, 7% reported consuming five drinks, 5.4% consumed six drinks, and 15.1% reported that they had seven or more drinks in one night.

More students also perceive that their peers use marijuana and other drugs than actually do. According to the study, 11.3% of students perceived that the typical student at their school had never used marijuna, while 69.6% of students reported that they never used it. A large amount, 76.6% of students perceived that the typical student at their school had used marijuana within the past 30 days, while only 12.5% of students reported actually using it.The study also asked students to report on an "all other drugs combined" section which included substances like cocaine, methamphetamines, amphetamines, sedatives, hallucinogens, anabolic steroids, opiates, inhalants, and other illegal drugs. The same result was seen again of students perceiving that the typical college student use drugs than actually do. According to the study, 10.2% of students perceived that the typical student at their school had never used drugs, while 68.6% of students reported never touching them. The majority, 76.2%, of students perceived that the typical student at their school had used drugs within the past 30 days, while only 13% of students reported actually using it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 8:09 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.