Risk-taking behavior of college students and social forces

We surveyed 1,900 first-year students at the University of Virginia 1 month after arrival. We looked at drinking and driving practices. Men drank more and they drank more often than women. Our data suggest that in defining frequent heavy drinkers, one should consider body weight. We now define frequent heavy drinking as five or more drinks in a row at least weekly for men, and for women we use three to four drinks or more in a row at least weekly. Frequent heavy drinkers and dangerous drivers appeared disproportionately among students planning to join fraternities and sororities. We believe correction of alcohol abuse and addiction by college students must focus, at least in part, on social organizations, especially fraternities and sororities. Also, we must attend to characterologic features that predispose to alcohol abuse and dependence and dangerous driving practices.