Study Suggests a Lowered Drinking Age Would Not Curb Binge Drinking on College Campuses
For years, individuals engaged in the underage drinking debate have argued that a lowering of the legal consumption age could thwart drinking activities and thus improve health outlooks for young drinkers. A recent study featured in a Science Daily release suggests that lowering the drinking age is unlikely to have a reducing effect on binge drinking among college age people.
Among those arguing for lowering the drinking age are certain U.S. college presidents. They believe that the move could help to curb binge drinking activities on campuses throughout the country. They joined a group of chancellors to form the Amethyst Initiative to rethink the current minimum drinking age of 21.
The Amethyst Initiative group argues that the law encourages underage drinking, especially in situations where binge drinking is common. They argue that if students could legally drink in public places, such as bars and restaurants, they would be less likely to engage in binge drinking at more secluded venues. The initiative has been signed by 135 college presidents to date.
According to Richard A. Scribner, M.D., M.P.H. with the Louisiana State University School of Public Health, a researcher on the new study, the campuses that were most likely to experience a decline in binge drinking as a result of a lowered legal drinking age were those with the poorest enforcement of underage drinking laws and a significant level of student misperception of “normal” drinking.
Scribner and his colleagues suggest that if misperception levels were not present or were at levels shown by the survey data, such campuses would likely see more binge drinking activities if the legal age were lowered. Drier campuses were found to have the greatest instance of student misperceptions.
