The Office of Institutional Research has released the 2004 Alcohol & Drug Use Report with data garnered from a survey Tufts Health Service conducted during the fall semester.
All University undergraduates were contacted to take the survey. 1,921 students, or 39.3 percent of the total undergraduate population, responded. Sophomores had the highest response rate at 26.1 percent, followed very closely by freshmen and seniors.
Respondents' ages ranged from 17 to 22. Almost 30 percent of respondents were of legal drinking age.
According to Margot Abels, Director of the Drug and Alcohol Education Services, the 2004 Alcohol & Drug Use Report is the first survey to include questions on drug use and also the most extensive of its kind.
The results of the general survey show that more whites and males identify themselves as moderate and heavy drinkers, while more minorities and females consider themselves light drinkers or abstainers.
"This is consistent with national data - whites and males drink more, though white females are catching up," Abels said.
Of the underage respondents, 19.4 percent regard themselves as abstainers or non-drinkers and 10.2 percent of the over-21 group responded likewise.
The top two reasons abstainers listed for not drinking was not being of legal drinking age and "personal values against alcohol use."
Light to heavy drinkers' top response to the reasons for drinking alcohol was "to have a good time with my friends," chosen by 62.4 percent. The second most popular choice was "as a reward for working/studying hard," coming in at 8.6 percent.
"Again, this is not surprising," Abels said. "Drinking helps a lot of people enjoy the weekend out of the library and their rooms."
Of the respondents who identified themselves as drinkers, 14.9 percent say they "drink until intoxicated" two to three times a week.
According to Abels, incidence of binge drinking has increased nationwide over the past few years.
Dean of Students Bruce Reitman agrees, citing a college drinking study conducted by Henry Wechsler of Harvard Medical School in the 1990s.
Tufts was among the schools who participated in Wechsler's study; 40 to 50 percent of Tufts undergraduates at the time of that study said they engaged in some manner of binge drinking, Reitman said.
The survey conducted by Health Services this year asked students who drink to identify consequences of their drinking.
Eighty-three percent identified hangovers, 70.7 percent said they had vomited in private, and 51.8 percent said they did something they later regretted. Another 31.9 percent said they had vomited in a public setting and four percent said they had been transported to the hospital.
"Thirty to 50 students are picked up by TEMS (Tufts Emergency Medical Services) during the average school year for alcohol and drug abuse," Reitman said. "It is important to note, however, that a number of Tufts undergraduates are non-drinkers or drink responsibly. This study focuses mainly on inveterate drinkers - people who see alcohol as a popular activity."
He could not immediately confirm whether this survey's numbers show that Tufts' alcohol abuse is any worse or better than in the past but "it was easier to educate about responsible drinking when the legal drinking age was 18."
In 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan raised the legal drinking age to 21 by signing the National Minimum Drinking Age Act.
"From all the reports and my own recollection of college, binge drinking was not nearly that much of an issue [before 1984]," Reitman said. "When we declared it a forbidden fruit we pushed it into the bedroom and made it a 'pre-gaming' thing instead of a social accompaniment."
The survey's results seem to reflect Reitman's opinion. Of the underage respondents who drink on weekends, 49.6 percent say they do so at fraternities and 47.7 percent say they do so in residence halls. Three percent and 15.3 percent of underage drinkers say they find alcohol in special-interest and substance-free University housing, respectively.
Off-campus apartments were the most popular place for underage respondants to get alcohol, with 54.8 percent saying so.
The survey also asked about the consequences of drinking; 82.8 percent of respondents said they have taken care of a drunken student at least once.
The freshman-only survey asked the same question; 21.7 percent of first-years who responded said took care of a drunken student during their first week at Tufts.
The survey also asked about sexual situations under the influence. Fifty-five percent of respondents said they "hooked up" with a new partner under the influence of alcohol; 28.1 percent said they went further than they would have if they had not been under the influence of alcohol.
The numbers were significantly lower for sexual situations under the influence of drugs.
"I do not recall a single case of acquaintance rape at Tufts that didn't involve alcohol," Reitman said. "Either on the part of the assailant, the victim, or both."
According to Reitman, since the late 1980s there have been 30 reported cases of acquaintance rape on campus.
As for the drugs portion of the survey, marijuana was the most widely-used drug with nearly 84 percent of drug users saying they used marijuana at Tufts. Tobacco followed with 60.2 percent, misused prescription drugs with 19.5 percent, and psychedelic mushrooms at 16.1 percent.
"I'd been told marijuana use on college campuses was up," Reitman said. "I am surprised the number is so high here at Tufts, but not too much. There are many debates - legality aside - whether alcohol or marijuana is worse for you."
Reitman said he was more surprised that cocaine use was at 8.6 percent.
The survey also asked about habits before and after coming to Tufts.
Nearly 23 percent said they now drink, but did not drink prior to coming to Tufts. Almost 15 percent said they now smoke marijuana and did not do so before coming to Tufts, and 6.6 percent now take non-prescribed legal drugs though they did not before.
"In my interpretation, those numbers are small," Reitman said. "The contra-positive says that if almost seven percent started taking prescription drugs when they got to Tufts, then 93 percent did before Tufts - and a whole lot of others don't now and didn't before."
The survey also asked students to evaluate themselves academically.
While only six percent of respondents said they had grade point averages of less than 3.0, Jeanne Haley, the alcohol and drug treatment specialist of the Drug and Alcohol Education Services, said she would be surprised if daily marijuana smokers are getting all A's in their classes.
"I have seen more students each year leave school because of academic difficulties due to addictive disorders," Reitman said. "These include alcohol, prescription drugs, computer gaming and internet poker."
Haley said that the University is pursuing a harm reduction method when it comes to substance abuse. "If students are going to make choices that are potentially harmful to them, we want to teach them to do it in the way that is least harmful," she said.
According to Haley, she sees 10 undergraduates a week who are mandated by Judicial Affairs Officer Veronica Carter to meet with her. "I would like to see more students come on their own but in the world at-large a lot of people don't get help for substance abuse problems."
According to Abels, community meetings, think tanks and focus groups will be organized to discuss the survey's results.
