"Binge Drinking" and dandelions

How is the term "binge drinking" like a dandelion?

Neither goes away...not matter what you do!

In a news item forwarded by HEC News earlier to day, "Binge Drinking Among
Students Remains High," (see
http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008101140049 for the
original article) we are again reminded that "binge drinking" is all but
intractable. But stop for a moment an really think about what that headline
and its story conveys. Because we--or at least the media and those who
forward what they proffer--continue to use the now accepted term "binge
drinking" to refer to 4+/5+ drinks per outing behavior we continue to
perpetuate the misperception that "all" students are going to hell in a
booze soaked hand basket.

This belief that "they" are "all" resistant to everything being done to stem
the tide of "binge drinking" fosters cynicism on the one hand and a penchant
for a knee-jerk moralistic reaction on the other. But is this perception of
collegiate life accurate? I think not. True, a little better than 20% of
students "binge" 2 or more time in the 2 weeks prior to being surveyed...but
what percentage of them are 240 lb/ linebackers on the football team? Yes,
there are far too many alcohol-related untoward consequences reported (and
unreported) on campuses across the country, but this is the result of the
20/80 rule that is not unique to collegiate drinkers...20% of the users
cause 80% of the problems.

The fact is, college students are not going to stop drinking any time soon
and those who believe they should are simply naive. It just is not pragmatic
to expect that students will stop drinking irrespective of what we do as
student affairs professionals, preventionists, counselors, administrators,
or faculty member. And to continue to report that "binge drinking" "remains
high" only perpetuates the problem, both in the eyes of those students who
are drinking and those who are observing from a distance their
behavior...from their family room as they watch the 6 O'clock news.

I am more interested in the mean number of drinks being consumed by students
that choose to drink than I am in the number of students who consume 4+/5+
drinks on those occasions when they tend to imbibe. It is because the term
"binge drinking" is so ludicrous when used to describe student drinking that
I get so frustrated when I read/hear the term use as though it is an
accepted standard of measurement like an "inch" or an "ounce" or a "gallon."
This term may have entered the lexicon of U.S. (English worldwide?)
language, but that does not mean that we--preventionists, student affairs
professionals, counselors, faculty--should throw up our hands and simply
start to chant with the crowd?

To differentiate between high-risk or dangerous drinking by the number of
drinks consumed in 2 hours is simply ridiculous. With no regard for "what"
has been consumed or "how many" standard drinks are in the enigmatic "4+/5+"
drinks, or one's body weight, the other substances in the body, physical
condition, tolerance, fatigue, etc., who is to say what is or is not a
dangerous amount? Add to this the fact that there are those who drink 3
drinks if a woman and 4 drinks if a man on an empty stomach when weighing
105 and think they are not at risk because they have not binged and there in
lies another spin on this issue.

So what should we do? I am glad you asked :) Here are "Robert's Rules" for
order regarding our reference to collegiate drinking:

   1. Never, repeat never use the term binge to refer to "collegiate
   drinking." It may be appropriate to refer to "some" collegiate drinkers as
   it is appropriate to refer to some "every other kind" of drinker...drinking
   to intoxication and remaining intoxicated for an extended period of time, a
   la Ray Milland in "Lost Weekend"
   2. Remember that "nothing always happens." Because someone has had 4/5
   drinks, even in 2 hours, does not mean that this individual is impaired.
   This certainly is not recommended and I do not advocate drinking at all let
   alone 4 if a woman or 5 if a man, but "because" someone has had "X" does not
   mean that we can discern a "binge"
   3. Like the little boy in Hans Christian Andersen's story "The
   Emperor's New Clothes," we need to challenge the belief that "binge
   drinking" is 4+/5+ drinking and a universally accepted term to refer to
   collegiate drinking. Until and unless someone challenges the logic in using
   such a term, the term will remain the benchmark by which all collegiate
   drinking is measured
   4. Call collegiate drinking what it is. If the drinker is under the
   legal age, it is underage drinking. If the drinker is impaired or
   intoxicated it is dangerous or problematic drinking. If the drinker is
   simply consuming but not impaired, underage, or engaging in high-risk
   behavior, simply call it drinking or alcohol use.

Our job as preventionists, administrators, faculty, counselor,
etc.isdifficult enough without making it harder by embracing a term
that is
inaccurate at best if not pejorative in the eyes of the students we are
trying to reach. Stop and think for a moment...if you are speaking to most
college students about 4+/5+ drinking as "binge drinking," how likely are
they to embrace "anything" you proffer as being fact? What do you think?

Best regards,
Robert

10-Mile Associates
Robert J. Chapman, PhD
Consultant & Educator
Phone: 484-802-0648
http://www.robertchapman.net

mailto:chapman.phd_at_gmail.com
home page http://www.robertchapman.net

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Received on 01/17/08