Binge Drinking Among Undergraduate College Students in the United States: Implications for Other Substance Use

Abstract

The authors examined the relationship between binge drinking and other substance use among US college students, using nationally representative data from the 1995 National College Health Risk Behavior Survey implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Compared with nonbinge drinkers, current binge drinkers were significantly more likely to report “ever” using and current use of cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, and other illegal drugs. The researchers also found that the more often students binge drank, the more likely they were to have ever used cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs, and the more likely they were to report current use of cigarettes and marijuana. Those who design programs to prevent binge drinking and use of other substances should take into account the reality that many students use more than one substance and that the more frequently students report binge drinking, the more likely they are to be using other substances as well.

Key Words:

• alcohol
• binge drinking
• college students
• drugs
• substance use

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carl V. Hill

Sherry Everett Jones and Nancy D. Brener are with the Division of Adolescent and School Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; John Oeltmann is with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia; and Todd W. Wilson and Carl V. Hill are with the Epidemiology Program Office. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.