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Binge drinking in youth may not lead to later habits

Ten thousand students and 20 years later, University researchers came closer yesterday to explaining how all the drinking and partying college students do could affect them later in life.

In a massive study released yesterday, psychology Prof. John Schulenberg and fellow researchers talked to thousands of students between the ages of 18 and 24 and asked them about their drinking habits.

Schullenberg acknowledged that drinking is common among students in this age group.

"On the path to adulthood, most people pause to get drunk," said Schulenberg. "It's kind of like one of the fruits of adulthood."

The students in the study were surveyed four times: at ages 18, 20, 22 and 24. Forty-eight percent of the students said they often went on drinking binges at least one of the times they were surveyed. The researchers defined binge drinking as consuming at least five drinks in a row.

Twelve percent of the men and 3 percent of the women reported they went on frequent drinking binges at every point in the survey.

Researchers also noted that there were distinct patterns to the young adults' drinking habits. The "fling" group, 9 percent of the men and 10 percent of the women surveyed, were heavy drinkers from ages 19 to 22 but tapered off after college.

The "increasers" also drank heavily in college, but continued their habits after age 22. Fourteen percent of men and 7 percent of women fell into this category.

Neither of the groups were binge drinkers in high school.

It's "hard to know in advance who goes which way," Schulenberg said. "We're really trying to figure it out."

Schulenberg said this suggests that adolescent behavior is not always a signal of later alcohol problems.

The young adults who had the least trouble with drinking after college were the ones who had future goals in mind during high school, Schulenberg said.

"I think everybody kind of goes through this phase of partying a lot," Schulenberg said.

Researchers plan to continue the study until the respondents turn 35.

Students said drinking occurs for a variety of reasons. "People think it makes them feel better," said LSA first-year student D'ante Sharp.

Often students think drinking makes them "more funny, more likeable," Sharp said.

People drink "because it's a socially accepted activity," said LSA senior Kristen Kleiman, who is a local co-chair of Boost Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students, a national organization.

Kleiman cited a lack of non-alcoholic activities on campus as part of the problem. "You can't go out to a non-alcoholic party," she said. "There aren't any highly organized non-alcoholic events."

The study, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, will be published in May's edition of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol, and is part of an ongoing project called Monitoring the Future.

The American Medical Association last month released a survey of 18- to 30-year-olds that found 40 percent drank to levels that impaired their judgment, and that about one in every five were binge drinkers.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.