Custom «Alcohol Abuse Among College Students» Essay Paper Sample

Alcohol is a substance that affects mind to loose its control. The Activities of the brain are not under the control. It is surely affecting the body’s nervous system. Alcohol belongs to the group of drugs called the narcotics that affects the mind and induces the mental changes in your body. Alcohol abuse among the kids and college students are very common in U.S.A. the sad thing is kids under the age of eleven also taking Alcohol. There are lots of mental and physical changes are occurring to the students who are having alcohol.

Apart from U.S.A, students in other countries are also affected by the alcohol. They are having high risk of getting the physical and mental changes if they continue to take alcohol for long time. They may fall to temporary risk like drunken driving and long term risk like alcohol dependence. This alcohol abuse spreads in the continents like Asia, Australia, South America and Europe. Alcohol abuse among those students is similar to the alcohol abuse in North America. It is somewhat lower in the regions of Africa.

Several Research where conducted between the college students and school to find out why they are consuming alcohol heavily. A recent research was conducted in order to find the effects of Alcohol among the students who are taken the Alcohol and who are not. The purpose for this research is to find the effects of the alcohol and its behavior on each student. This research was done by Wright ET. The attributes for this research is problem solving skills, way of behaving in the social communities, causes for suicide and abuse of alcohol. It was concluded that there is no difference between non-alcoholic student and the alcoholic student.

Research Studies on Abuse of Alcohol

Cooper ET in his research founded that the individual therapy given to the students increases the test scores in the class. However the Lashubeck ET researches and found that there is some difference in the above reports and there is an added psychological stress to the students who are taking alcohol heavily. Some students are also influenced by the parents who are taking alcohol. Many college students having some blind interest towards the alcohol. That is the main reason for taking alcohol for the first time. After prolong alcohol consumption they became addict to the alcohol.

(Source: Cooper, A. and McCormack, A.W. (1992) Short – Term Group Treatment for Adult Children of Alcoholics: Journal of Counseling Psychology. 39 (3), 350-355)

According to Winokur conducted a survey; those students who are pursuing first and second year of the college are taken into account. This research is very useful to analyze the behavior the students who are indulging in Alcohol drinking. It is founded that the students who are consuming the alcohol in the first year are continue to consume alcohol in the consecutive year also. The students who also consume alcohol in the high school are continued to consume alcohol in the college also. This research was proven to be true among many college students. These results suggest that the heavy alcohol usage is not a primary factor here. However some rare cases reported that some of the students are addicted to alcohol consumption. It is also studied that the early detection is better than treating the alcohol addict.

(Source: Winokur, G., Cook, B. and Fowler, R. (1993) Alcoholism in Manic Depressive Bipolar patients: Journal of Studies on Alcohol 54 (5), 574-576)

College student alcohol consumption is studied particularly among the North American Students.

There are some factors are associated with the alcohol usage. Environmental factors, Gender, Sexuality, Peer Pressure, Achievements, Emotional, and Genetic Factors. The alcohol usage among the college students becoming alcohol addict after the prolong consumption. The dependence of the alcohol is becoming more among the North American students. However the usage of alcohol is forbidden in the Arab Region. In the Arab region the cultural and religious blocks are there to take the Alcohol. The Religion of Islam does not allow its followers to consume alcohol. However Arab countries put strong law against alcohol consumption. It is a surprising fact that the college students are subjected to alcohol consumption in the Arab Countries also. These students are having the problems like use of other drugs, having unsafe sex, conduct problems and poor performance in academic.

In U.S.A the there are some public concerns for the youths who are consuming alcohol in the schools or in the colleges. The risks associated with the young students are increasing. They are at high risk from getting the heart attacks in the future. Alcohol seems to be the main reason for injuries and death accident among the college students. There are some reports that the young minds are indulging more in the alcohol habit.

Students who are away from their own country or from their home are susceptible to alcohol drinking than the college students who are persuading their college in their home town. In fact those students are away from their family, home town, home and their childhood friends. These students are stressed for being intellectual among other students. The students are advised to be the survival of the fittest. These students want to get relief from this stresses and eventually they are getting into the hands of Alcohol devil.

(Source: Hetherington, C. and J. M. Keene. "Student Drinking Patterns and Related Alcohol Education Programs." THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING 15 (1985): 17-20. EJ 330 930)

Reasons for Consuming the Alcohol

Alcohol drinkers are peculiar behavior of being impulsive, abnormal, having poor performance in their academics, seeking more independence than any other students and they will drink for no reason. Males are having mush higher percentage of drinkers than the Females. However the increase or decrease in the alcohol consumption among the women’s is conflicting. In some situations women’s are showing more resistance to drinking than the men’s. Most part of the influence comes from their peers. Forming groups for drinking is another factor in the influence in alcohol consumption. Many students are pressurized to have alcohol when they are in groups. The critical factor is many parents in the society are not caring their children due to their heavy work in the office. They are just coming to the home to take rest. If they are having time in the home, they are not at all taking care about their children’s. This type of loneliness for the students makes them to go with the new habit that gives utmost pleasure to them. Many studies

Revealed that most problems are arising if once their parents looking beyond their child in each and every activities.

(Source: Lashubeck, S. and Christensen, A.S. (1992) Differences is Distress among Adult children of alcoholics: Journal of Counseling Psychology. 39 (3), 356-362.)

Reducing the age for the legal drinking will surely controls the accidents done by the students who are undergoing the degree. Many students are using their automobiles as the safe place for drinking rather in the hostels. The students may miss the class because of overtaking alcohol in short time. This will surely result in the hangovers and he/she may miss the class. Many studies revealed that college students are used to drink to get the attention of the crowd. This type of approach gives room for non-alcoholic to experiment alcohols for one time to get the attention of the crowd.

A negative consequence plays a major role in influencing a student to drink. A student may want to drink to forget the bad incident happened in the college. May be a poor performance by a student in the class will lead to drink. The management of the college may think that the students are not performing because of the excessive consumption of the alcohol. Actually the fact is reverse is the true.

The student is indulging more in the drinking habit because of the pressure and stress from the teacher to finish the assignments in time. If they are not done in the right then their career may get spoil. If the college student is having prolonged drinking problem, then he/she will be continuing this habit from their school days onwards. Consumption of alcohols in the night parties particularly in the weekends is higher when compared to other occasions. Their drinking is heavily on this occasion. This is type of pattern is increasing among the college students and it is going downwards among the high school students. Overall the classroom performance is reduced because of the intake of alcohol. Nothing can be the reason for the intake of alcohol. He/She have to open his/her mouth to drink it. Nothing can force them to drink without their knowledge.

Canceling and Educational Programs

Many Governments and schools wants to help the students who are indulging in the prolong drinking. Many students are not approaching the school officials to give counseling for them regarding the alcohol usage. Schools and Colleges are approaching these issues on other as they are conducting group counseling. Arranging sessions will produce good results if this is done continuously for certain period of time. According to Hetherington and Keene in 1985 they designed a program that classifies the students in the scale of alcohol consumption. The following user groups are,

Abusers: The students in these categories must undergo counseling and they have to know that what are the psychological issues are there. We have stress the emotional impact of the prolong consumption of the alcohols. Discussing the use of alcohols in the families will be very much useful to them. Usually these alcohol consumers practiced alcohol from the age of ten.  

Weekenders: Alcohol consumers who are taking alcohol in the weekend fall in this category. Giving proper counseling to them and discussing about the social issues in the night parties will surely bring a positive change in them.

Users: Lecture the ill effects of alcohol consumption for certain period of time and discuss about the issues related to the mental health. We need to tell the importance of bartending for nonalcoholic drinks.

(Source: Berkowitz, A. D. and H. W. Perkins. "Resident Advisers as Role Models: A Comparison of Drinking Patterns of Resident Advisers and Their Peers." JOURNAL OF COLLEGE STUDENT PERSONNEL 27 (1986): 146-153. EJ 334 056.)

Several schools are attempting to prohibit the students from having the alcohol in their campus. This type of blocks for the students won’t help anyway for them. If they are not allowed to consume alcohol then they will consume outside the campus. This type of rules won’t help the students. Instead they can try to teach the safe alcohol practice. They can teach the ill effects of taking alcohol and how they will affect you in the future.

Probably the best solution for the alcohol abuse among the college students is to give proper counseling among the college students. We need to tell that what all the troubles they may face in the future. Prohibiting the alcohol in this age is not possible. However you need to advice them not to become an alcohol abuser. Occasional drinking in the parties is unavoidable but too much sweet may lead to poison. If everything is under your control then you are the master of alcohol habit.