Does diversity decrease drinking?

The "Animal House" persona of the white male on college campuses often pegs this portion of student bodies as the heaviest binge drinkers -- frat parties and beer kegs the main staple of their very existence. Yet this stereotype has infrequently been backed up by any empirical data - until now.

According to the results of a controversial Harvard School of Public Health study released last month, called "Watering down the drinks: The moderating effect of college demographics on alcohol use of high-risk groups," greater diversity on college campuses significantly reduces rates of binge drinking.

The study defines binge drinking as consuming five or more drinks for men, and four or more drinks for women, in one sitting, at some point in the previous two weeks.

The study concluded that the "binge drinking rates of white, male, and underage students were significantly lower in schools that had more minority, female, and older students."

The research analyzed data from 114 predominantly white colleges included in the 1993, 1997, 1999, and 2001 College Alcohol Study Surveys.

In an interview with Reuters, Henry Wechsler, the lead author of the study, explained the thinking behind his research. "If you have younger white males together to the exclusion of other groups, you're going to have fewer role models for lighter or non-drinking behavior," he said. "That may explain why fraternities have had such a high level of drinking problems."

Wechsler explained that, according to his findings, at more diverse colleges there seem to be more "leisure activities" on campus, providing alternatives to "just partying and drinking."

The study has been criticized greatly by many who believe that equating binge drinking with involvement in the Greek system is unfounded. But if a more diverse campus has less binge drinking, the question then becomes whether members of more diverse fraternities are likely to drink less.

According to Todd Sullivan, the Tufts Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, many more minority students are joining Greek organizations today for two reasons. Firstly, there has been an explosive growth in the number of groups catering to specific minority groups and secondly, predominantly white fraternities have opened their doors in recent years "to recognize changing campus trends."

"Even though no national Greek organization has had discriminatory membership practices on paper for about 50 years, the diversification of individual chapters has been more gradual," Sullivan said. "I believe that membership makeup is largely representative of the student population as a whole."

In other words, as schools become more diverse, their fraternities do as well, and according to Wechsler, this creates an environment with less binge drinking.

The Tufts University Alcohol Study, conducted in 2001 by Community Health Professors Edith Balbach and Charlene Galarneau, supports Wechsler's findings to some extent. Galarneau warns, however that the studies are very different, and thus difficult to compare.

The Tufts Study found that White and Latino/Latina respondents drank more than the average Tufts student, while Asian-American, Indian-American, and African-American students drank less than the average.

According to the Harvard study, the binge drinking rate among male students at a predominantly white school was approximately 54 percent. This number decreased ten percentage points at schools with increased racial diversity.

The study also showed that whether or not a student was a binge drinker in high school, he or she was less likely to binge drink on college campuses with higher minority enrollment.

"We have always known certain demographic groups drink less than others, and we wanted to explore what factors could affect college drinking patterns," Wechsler said.

"I think some of the implications of the Harvard study's findings mimic or echo other studies from the past," Galarneau said. "On the face of it, [the findings] would seem to make intuitive sense because it's been found previously that different demographics are more or less likely to drink."

Tufts Director of Drug and Alcohol Education, Margot Abels, agreed. "When looking at alcohol and drug prevention work it is very important to look at sub-populations of students from ethnic minorities to sexual orientation to gender to age, to see how different groups use," she said. "I think there are very different values that people bring to drinking, and some of those are based on group norms and community and environment and how people progress or live in this campus environment."

The relationship between the racial composition of the campus and binge drinking was more substantial at smaller colleges and universities, such as Tufts where there are more opportunities for interaction between diverse groups of students.

"It's not simply the numbers though," Wechsler said in a press release. "There is also the factor of residential patterns." Wechsler indicated that students who live in predominantly white fraternities, or other living spaces where they are primarily surrounded by white students, are more likely to drink heavily than those who are surrounded by people with disparate interests and lifestyles.

"I think there would definitely be some validity in saying that to have a diversified campus where people bring different ideas and values to drinking could decrease [binge drinking]," Abels said. "This could really support us in doing much more targeted prevention efforts. I wouldn't do the same prevention with students in fraternities and students in the Africana Center because I think people come together to drink for different reasons."

The study went further, however, than simply looking at the differences between ethnic groups. Female and older students have lower rates of binge drinking as well, Wechsler's study suggested.

In a press release, Wechsler added that his study could affect college admissions. "In making decisions about admissions, colleges should recognize the many benefits of greater diversity on campus, including a possible decrease in problem drinking."

Galarneau had a different interpretation of the importance of the study. "I doubt this will change the admissions process," she said. "But they do find some things that colleges should look at seriously such as encouraging older students to live on campus [because they were proven to binge drink less than younger students and would be a good influence]."

"[The researchers] also look at fraternity and sorority housing related to binge drinking. Dissipating binge drinkers across campus instead of packing them together would probably be a good idea," Galarneau added.

"There are so many benefits to having a diversified campus. I think what Tufts and other institutions already know, in terms of richness of perspective and life experience - it really benefits the campus to have us be as diverse as possible," Abels said. "This is just another piece of information that would certainly support efforts to increase diversity on campus."

The study, however, has come under some scrutiny by other researchers. Many have attacked Wechsler's definition of binge drinking. Instead of simply counting the number of drinks one consumes, they suggest that the study should consider the individual's weight and the time period in which the alcohol is consumed.

Wechsler has also been criticized for previous studies he has done in which he found that binge drinking could be curbed with media campaigns emphasizing "social norms": a strategy which attempts to prevent college students from misjudging and overestimating the drinking habits of their fellow students. Many researchers have proved this strategy to be highly ineffective.