College of Education and Human Development

Changing the Conversation on Underage Drinking

As a residence hall director at the Ohio State University, David S. Anderson saw a student wheeled out on a stretcher—dead—from alcohol overuse. Every year, an estimated 1,700 college students across America die in alcohol-related incidents, including traffic crashes. From his experience, Anderson believes that alcohol abuse is often at the root of college students' troubles, and as director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Health at Mason, he is trying to do something about it.

About two-fifths of college students abuse alcohol, and their academic performance correlates inversely with alcohol use: the more students drink, the poorer their class performance and the lower their grades. In his research, Anderson has tried to pinpoint what students are looking for when they choose to abuse alcohol or other drugs, and he wants to educate students about the gap between the reality and perception of alcohol use on campus.

"Most college professionals nationally acknowledge the reality that students, even those who are underage, drink," says Anderson, who is co-author of two national surveys of college drug and alcohol prevention efforts. "Very few students begin drinking while they are in college. By the time they arrive on the college campus, most students have already made decisions about alcohol for themselves."

"If you look at high school seniors, nearly half have used alcohol in the past month; 30 percent, nearly a third of them, have been drunk in the past month," he says. "Those are the college students we inherit."

For many years, Anderson's book, Promising Practices: Campus Alcohol Strategies, cowritten with Gail Gleason Milgram of Rutgers University, has been mailed to every college in the country at no cost. Most colleges have some sort of alcohol-awareness program, according to Anderson, but those programs are typically not comprehensive campus efforts.

"To deal with alcohol problems, you need to have a comprehensive approach," he says. "Too many colleges are just holding an awareness day once a year." Most lack the financial resources, or the commitment, to do much more.

Despite Anderson's efforts, the information and resources available, and all the college programs, the statistics on college-age drinking nationally haven't budged. Approximately 40 percent of college students abuse alcohol, having had five or more drinks at a setting at least once in the prior two weeks.

"While that statistic wavers between 38 and 42 percent, for the most part it has remained constant," Anderson says. "We have done more and more. More dollars have been put toward [preventing] abusive drinking by college students, and we have not seen much of a result."

So even as Promising Practices was being distributed nationwide, Anderson went looking for more answers. He and some of his peers decided the current alcohol abuse programs may have a misplaced focus. The group went back to the original question, Why do students want the buzz or high? They shifted the focus toward life and health principles, which resulted in a book, Charting Your Course: A Lifelong Guide to Health and Compassion, edited by Anderson and colleague Sally Coleman. Written for young adults and used by universities across the country, the book examined seven principles for holistic health. Thus, a new program called Healthy Expectations was born at Mason.

Healthy Expectations, a pilot program funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, strives to correct students' misperceptions about alcohol on college campuses and promote positive life and health behaviors. By sharing survey data with students and parents, the program targets the widely held misperceptions that everyone at college drinks alcohol. Classroom presentations and small group discussions with college freshmen on themes ranging from values and self-care to relationships and community service also help students think more proactively about their health.

Beginning in 2005, this project incorporated COMPASS: A Roadmap to Healthy Living, a CD and web-based resource that addresses responsible information and choices for students. These resources encourage informed decisions and resource use for 31 distinct topic areas. In 2006, Healthy Expectations and COMPASS was designated a model program by the U.S. Department of Education, supporting the viability of this as an appropriate alcohol abuse prevention initiative. Funding with this designation is used to enhance Mason's program and disseminate it nationally.

"What we hope to do with this initiative is to change the conversation," Anderson says. "To look at health-promoting and human potential-enhancing issues, such as maximizing your academic success and dealing with your stress in a healthful way. These issues, we believe, are linked to healthy decisions about alcohol and drugs."

"Saying [alcohol use] is against the law is an argument students might not hear. But it is one we need to say," Anderson continues. "It is my belief that we benefit by emphasizing health messages, safety messages, and ethical messages, in conjunction with the legal messages, and not rely simply on 'It's against the law, don't do it.'"

—Colleen Kearney Rich and Frances Rensbarger