"I would say I drink three times a week. I get drunk probably two out of the three times. I don't think I have a problem." So said a junior at Tufts.
But according to some definitions of binge drinking, what some students think as drunken fun may actually be a serious problem. Tufts students in particular find the line between drinking often and binge drinking to be a muddled one.
In a study published last year by the Harvard School of Public Health, binge drinking for men was established as consuming five or more drinks in a row; for women, four or more. Frequent binge drinking was defined as binge drinking three or more times in a two-week span.
The study found that 44 percent of college students in the US are binge drinkers, and had engaged in binge drinking during the two weeks prior to the school's survey. The data was collected from nearly 17,600 students from 140 four-year colleges and universities across the country.
A similarly comprehensive study, the Tufts University Alcohol Study (TAS), was conducted at the University and published by the Community Health Program last May. The community-based research project included surveys, focus groups, and interviews of several Tufts students.
While the study at Tufts did not focus specifically on binge drinking, it found that 81 percent of students consider themselves drinkers. Of these, 48.2 percent typically drank four or more drinks at one time and 15.8 percent typically drank six or more drinks.
Armand Mickune-Santos, Director of Alcohol and Health Education for Tufts Health Services, said that binge drinking is a significant issue on campus.
"With the definition [of binge drinking], most students at a party would be binge drinkers," he said. "I would say, however, that there are more students drinking socially than binge drinking on campus."
Binge drinking fits particularly well into the college setting because "it's drinking in a set pattern, like every Friday or Saturday night," Mickune-Santos said.
Mickune-Santos handles all alcohol and substance abuse counseling at Tufts, and all students who have been treated by TEMS for alcohol poisoning are required to meet with him. He estimates that 60 to 70 students each year receive medical attention for alcohol-related problems, but believes most students don't seek the help they need. Still, he said, binge drinkers are not by definition alcoholics.
"Binge drinking may or may not be considered a dependency, [but] alcoholism is a dependency," Mickune-Santos said. He added that those binge drinkers that are pre-genetically disposed to alcoholism are more prone to become alcoholics.
Mickune-Santos, who is planning a social norms marketing campaign for next semester to educate students about healthy lifestyles, noted that while binge drinking is a major concern on many college campuses, most students at four-year institutions either abstain from drinking or drink in moderation, according to the Harvard survey.
That survey says that 56 percent of students do not binge drink. Many at Tufts, however, think that binge drinking should be defined as consuming more than the four-to-five drink standard used by the survey. If the standard were raised, the percentage of students who do not bring drink would be considerably higher.
"Four drinks in a night is not enough to be considered binge drinking because you can drink socially four drinks at a party without the intent of drinking to get drunk," sophomore Magda Denes said. "You can socially drink four drinks in a night without getting drunk at all."
Others agree, especially regarding the lower limit for females.
"I think that it should be more," sophomore Martha Betz said. "I didn't know the definition before, but I feel like the cut off for binge drinking should be more than four because most girls I know drink more and I never thought they were binge drinking."
Others think the five-drink limit for guys is inaccurate.
"I think five drinks makes you a social drinker [but] not a binge drinker because everybody drinks five drinks without getting sick," sophomore Alexander Bailey said. "I consider binge drinking to be puking every night."
And according to the Harvard survey, even students that fell into the category of frequent binge drinker - having drank three or more times during a two-week span - claimed they didn't have a problem with alcohol at the time of the survey.
Students say the reasons they drink vary from social motivation to a release from academic pressures to, as one student put it, simply "to have fun." According to the Tufts alcohol survey, this is the top reason for drinking.
"I think people drink in some instances to forget about what is going on in their lives at the time," Betz said. "If people are drinking every night to escape, then they have a problem. It all depends on their intent, and their dependence on drinking."
But when does drinking for fun become a drinking problem? According to Mickune-Santos, students come to him when drinking brings them adverse consequences. He warns that when drinking impacts students' academic or athletic performances, relationships, financial situations, or causes aggressive behavior and blackouts, they need to get help.
"Sometimes not until a parent or friend express concern do students ask for help," Mickune-Santos said. "Wake-up calls," such as getting pulled over by the police or a dramatic change in a student's social group to accommodate their drinking habits are also signs that have caused students to seek help.
And while some students first get the drinking bug when arriving at college for the first time, many carry it over from high school. Compared with those who did not drink prior to college, students who were binge drinkers in high school were almost three times more likely to binge drink in college, according to the Harvard study.
At Tufts, 69 percent of students who drink reported that they had drank five or more times before college, with some students' first drinking experiences having been as long ago as middle school. There existed a small percentage of students who were drinkers in high school but not in college.
Regardless of when the problem starts, college typically exacerbates it. Denes said a friend who experienced a serious trauma was a social drinker in high school, but in college drinks almost every night.
"There is lots of drinking in college and we all just need to look out for our friends and recognize that we're all going out to have a good time, and that [drinking] is not a major part of our lives," Denes said. "I can go for a weekend without drinking, but if drinking becomes more than that then it becomes a problem."
