Newly released government data shows college-age binge drinkers average an alarming nine drinks each time they get drunk.
Binge drinking is defined as consuming four or more alcoholic beverages on any one given occasion. Health officials have long warned this behavior contributes to issues such as drunk-driving accidents, violence and fetal alcohol syndrome.
Nearly 17 percent of young adults surveyed said they’d had an episode of binge drinking within the last 30 days. It was most common in the 18 to 34 age group; however, the study also found that those who are 65 and older binge drink the most out of any age group surveyed.
The report is based on 2011 telephone surveys of more than 450,000 adults in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the findings last week.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) lists a wide range of negative outcomes experienced as a result of excessive drinking, including an estimated 1,700 deaths of college students—not young adults, but college students in particular—between the ages of 18 and 24 from “alcohol-related unintentional injuries.”
Additionally, each year, “more than 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking;” “more than 400,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 had unprotected sex as a result of their drinking each year;” and approximately “25 percent of college students report academic consequences of their drinking.”
