The Florida State University has been ranked according to the Princeton Review’s list of Top 20 Party Schools for 2012-2013 as #8 in the nation (The Huffington Post, 2012). The poll was based on surveying students on their daily academic and social habits and on the popularity of their Greek system. The Florida State University is ranked as a Top 10 party school. To the world and readers of this poll, we are known for our athletic programs, our Greek system and our ability to party. Yet none of those characteristics make up what it is to be a student at The Florida State University. They don’t reflect the kind institution you would be attending or education you might receive. This poll reflects the stereotype of what college is thought to be; just one big party, which apparently as a Seminole is one of the best in the country.
It is these kinds of stereotypes that drive our culture. They hide behind both our motivations and prejudice, and manipulate the decisions we make. They can be rooted in fact or the foundation of fiction. At times created and perpetuated by the media, they remain something our culture struggles to both integrate and eradicate from our daily lives. Our stereotypes have become our culture.
College culture is no exception.
Dr. Henry Wechsler and some of his colleagues from the Department of Health and Social Behavior conducted a case study to “examine the individual correlates of college student binge drinking” (Wechsler, 921). In their 2002 study, among the strongest and most influential characteristics were residence and participation in the collegiate Greek system and adopting a “party-centered lifestyle”. Of the students selected across the country and from a wide variety of demographic backgrounds, it was their lifestyle choices that made them more likely to binge than some of their peers. Those most likely to have binged, Wechsler defining it as “5 or more drinks per episode for men and as four or more per drinks per episode for women”, shared similar importance on being part of the campus social scene. Whether it was living in a dorm with a roommate, participation in Greek life, or spending more than average time socializing with their peers, the students that stressed the importance of a lifestyle centering on partying were “three times more likely to binge” than their peers (Wechsler, 924).
Dr. Henry Wechsler and some of his colleagues from the Department of Health and Social Behavior conducted a case study to “examine the individual correlates of college student binge drinking” (Wechsler, 921). In their 2002 study, among the strongest and most influential characteristics were residence and participation in the collegiate Greek system and adopting a “party-centered lifestyle”. Of the students selected across the country and from a wide variety of demographic backgrounds, it was their lifestyle choices that made them more likely to binge than some of their peers. Those most likely to have binged, Wechsler defining it as “5 or more drinks per episode for men and as four or more per drinks per episode for women”, shared similar importance on being part of the campus social scene. Whether it was living in a dorm with a roommate, participation in Greek life, or spending more than average time socializing with their peers, the students that stressed the importance of a lifestyle centering on partying were “three times more likely to binge” than their peers (Wechsler, 924).
If you were to picture the stereotypical “college experience”, more than likely you might take a scene out of National Lampoon’s Animal House- fraternity pledges, togas and alcohol. Bluto, Otter and their Delta Tau Chi brothers have become an iconic standard in what the College culture stereotype is thought to be and according to these recent studies on binge drinking among college students, the propensity for binging among this demographic “partly confirms the stereotype of the prototypical college drinker is grounded in reality” (Wechsler, 925). The atmosphere created by the drunken charades and risky behavior in Animal House has rolled over from the fictitious setting of Faber College featured in the film, and has become a real problem on real campuses nationwide.
The Task Force of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism published a paper in 2002 that addressed this drinking culture found in college communities. Titled, A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges, the Task Force cites drinking as becoming evident and engrained in the college atmosphere and environment. It has become expected and accepted for alcohol and drinking in college to be a norm. In an effort to find acceptance in a new social situation, many students feel the influence of peers and the college environment as promoting alcohol and college drinking as a “rite of passage” (NIAAA, 2). These beliefs and ideals about alcohol and its role in the social scene have become "entrenched at every level" (NIAAA, 1). The need to be socially accepted is paramount and it is the combination between the environment and peer influence that help to foster alcohol's place in college culture. This has brought the issues with alcohol use out of the exaggerated Hollywood stereotype and into a real world, collegiate crisis.
While binge drinking remains tied to some of the most desired social aspects of the American college experience, any efforts made to change or influence a shift in this stereotype must “contend with the centrality of alcohol in the lives of many students, not merely as passive victims but willing participants” (Wechsler, 925). In order to effectively change this paradigm, to put binge drinking and alcohol use on its own kind of cultural “double secret probation”, alcohol awareness must be targeted to college students on the 4 levels Wechsler and Dowdall address in Studying College Alcohol Use. They identify indicators of alcohol use on the individual, the college environment, and the alcohol environment both on and off campus as seen in the figure below in the right-side column:
Pre-College
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College
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Family
Genetic predisposition
Parental drinking
Race/ethnicity
Educational background
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Individual
Previous drinking history
Age of first drink
High risk behavior
Social network
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Public Policy
State laws
Drinking age 21
Local community ordinances
Law enforcement
|
College Environment
Drinking traditions
College type
Peer groups
Residential system
Greek system
Intercollegiate athletics
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Alcohol Environment
Price
Marketing practices
Outlet density
Hours of sale
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Alcohol Environment: On Campus
Availability
Price
Quantity available
Advertising
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Social/Institutional Structures
Social class
Neighborhood
Middle/high school
Church/synagogue
Subcultures
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Alcohol Environment: Off Campus
Retail price of alcohol
Quantity accessible
Outlet density
Proximity to outlets
Point of purchase displays
Alcohol advertising
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Figure 1. Factors affecting college drinking
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Though some of these outlying individual factors would not be easily regulated or controlled by a University establishment, the college environment and on campus situation could be targeted as means of getting alcohol awareness through to college students. These social groups and established systems are avenues for educators and administration to address these issues on a larger scale. There is a serious call to action for administration and university officials for an intervention strategy to be both implemented and successful. It must be aimed at programs that educate students on the public and private risk of abusing alcohol, to both their health and well being and that of those around them. It must be brought out of the “accepted norm” and brought front and center as an issue that can no longer be ignored. There can be no change without an agent for such a change, and these recent studies prove that the social centered lifestyle of many college students is not the party they hoped it might be.
