College Women Are Drinking More Than Man, New Study Finds

Everyone knows that college students like to drink alcohol. Especially college guys right? Well, actually according to a new study, college women are exceeding drinking guidelines more often than men. What happened to the frat boys who would drink, pass out and write on their 'brother'? Well, apparently they are still there but female college students are now more likely to binge drink then males.

A new study that will be published in the October 2013 issue of "Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research," delved into a study regarding how both female and male college studies consume alcohol. Bettina Hoeppner, a medical researcher, led a team that recruited 992 incoming freshmen students at three separate New England universities and colleges. The average age of the participating students was 18.4 years old, well below the legal drinking age of 21.

These 992 students provided data for the team to study by completing an online survey detailing their alcohol consumption every two weeks throughout the academic school year, students specifically indicated their daily alcohol consumption in the pervious week.

Researchers working on Hoeppner's team discovered that, among the 992 students who consumed alcohol, 85.4 % exceeded a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) guideline at least once during their first week of college. Not the whole semester, not the month, or the whole academic year, but 85% percent of drinkers exceeded a NIAAA guideline in week 1! That statistic is staggering, and I just graduated from college!

The study also found that more men than women exceeded the daily limit of drinks guideline set by the NIAAA however, more women than men exceeded the weekly limit. I would assume that statistics shows that women are 'going out' more in during the week. By 'going out' I mean attending bars, parties or visiting other residences more often than their male counterparts.

Another study performed in January by the University of Vigo published results stating that female college students were more likely to binge drink than male college students. In addition a CDC report discovered that white, college-educated, females between the ages of 18-24, with $75,000 or more as an annual household income were more likely to binge drink when compared to women of other races, ages, and socioeconomic statuses.