Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 27, 2026

Murine Drinking Models in the Development of Pharmacotherapies for Alcoholism: Drinking in the Dark and Two-bottle Choice
Published on: January 7, 2019
Environmental policies to reduce college drinking: options and research findings
Traci L Toomey1, Alexander C Wagenaar
1Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55454-1015, USA. toomey@epi.umn.edu
Objective:
The goal of this article is to provide an overview of environmental strategies that may reduce college drinking. Drinking behavior is influenced by many environmental factors, including messages in the media, community norms and attitudes, public and institutional policies and practices and economic factors. College student drinking may be influenced by environmental factors on and off campus.
Method:
A comprehensive search of MEDLINE, ETOH, Current Contents and Social Science Abstracts databases was conducted to identify research studies evaluating effects of environmental strategies on college and general populations.
Results:
The identified environmental strategies fall into four categories: (1) increasing compliance with minimum legal drinking age laws, (2) reducing consumption and risky alcohol use, (3) decreasing specific types of alcohol-related problems and (4) de-emphasizing the role of alcohol on campus and promoting academics and citizenship. Although the extant research indicates that many environmental strategies are promising for reducing alcohol-related problems among the general population, few of these strategies have been evaluated for effects on the college population.
Conclusions:
Further research is needed to evaluate effects of alcohol control policies on alcohol consumption and its related problems among college students.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Cross-Sectional Research
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Deindividuation
CNS Depressants: Alcohol and Nicotine
Insufficient Sleep and Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation is a more severe form of sleep loss...
Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques IV

