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The Myth of the Party School: Alcohol Abuse in CollegeJul 26 '06 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line As a parent talk to your child and start early. Watch for red flags. Realize some experimenting is normal but be available to help. In my review called Alcohol is on every college campus. Don't let it ruin your future, I wrote to students. This essay is for parents of high school children headed to college; thinking of college or already in college. There are a couple of points I want to make right away. The first is about the title. My thoughts on this subject are my own based on having three children who have gone through college. I did so much research and reading before they chose the schools they went to they joked that I could be a guidance counselor. What I learned was that the idea of party schools really is somewhat of a myth. That isn’t to say that some colleges don’t suffer from more alcohol use than others. There are some that do. It could be because of the location of the school, the students they accept or a combination of a lot of variables. What I learned is that there are no schools exempt from the use of alcohol. Parents have said to me that they were sending their child to a particular school because there is no drinking on campus. Wrong! There is drinking on campus. It is just well hidden. There are alcohol free dorms that your child may want to choose and some do. Not all college kids want to drink at all let alone to excess. Please don’t be fooled by the notion that a religious campus or same sex campus is alcohol free. The second point I want to make is about timing. Although it is never too late to talk with your child I really hope that if yours is leaving for college in September you haven't put off the talk. If you are a parent of a young child talking about alcohol use is another topic to add to your talks on sex and stranger danger. I suggest using teachable moments. Those usually come up via the television or movies so take advantage of that moment. Another good time is in the car. You have a captive audience so take the earphones out of your child’s ears, make sure you are on a highway so he or she can’t jump out of the car and start talking. I listed some consequences for your child in the above mentioned essay. There are a few others in which you may be interested: • Driving: 2.1 million students between the ages of 18 and 24 drove under the influence of alcohol last year (Hingson et al., 2002). • Vandalism: About 11 percent of college student drinkers report that they have damaged property while under the influence of alcohol (Wechsler et al., 2002). • Property Damage: More than 25 percent of administrators from schools with relatively low drinking levels and over 50 percent from schools with high drinking levels say their campuses have a "moderate" or "major" problem with alcohol-related property damage (Wechsler et al., 1995). • Police Involvement: About 5 percent of 4-year college students are involved with the police or campus security as a result of their drinking (Wechsler et al., 2002) and an estimated 110,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are arrested for an alcohol-related violation such as public drunkenness or driving under the influence (Hingson et al., 2002). • Alcohol Abuse and Dependence: 31 percent of college students met criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and 6 percent for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence in the past 12 months, according to questionnaire-based self-reports about their drinking (Knight et al., 2002). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11775073&dopt=Citation It doesn’t matter to me whether you are paying for college, the government is or your child got a free ride, you are still the parent and although once your child is 18 years old you don’t have access to their records without their permission you still have access to your child. Watch for red flags such as changes in mood or behavior (You probably know your child well enough to determine over the phone little nuisances that will raise a flag.), trouble with police or university officials because of drinking, your child not remembering what he or she did over the weekend and evasiveness about his or her life when you call or e-mail. As a parent you may feel helpless. You are far from helpless. Go visit your child. Take him or her to a favorite place and have a frank talk with him. Describe specific behaviors without judgment. For example rather than saying “You never tell me about your life” try “When I call you seem not to remember what you did over the weekend. Why is that?” Be prepared for excuses, promises to tell you more or a “no big deal” attitude. Your child knows you love him or her. Talk about how very concerned you are and that you have been doing some reading or talking to professionals and you believe that too much alcohol is the cause for the behavior you see. Offer to go with your child to any one of the many support services found on all campuses. You can contact the Dean of Student Development, the University or College Counseling Center, the University or College Health Center and Alcoholics Anonymous. If they pass on this offer, leave phone numbers for them. Most likely your child was involved in extra-curricula activities in high school. Suggest that your child go to the gym with friends on Saturday night rather to the club they frequent. Dare them to compete with each other on who can swim the most laps rather than who can drink the most shots. Realize that drinking in college does not mean your child is abnormal, an alcoholic or heading for jail. Under age drinking is illegal though and can change your child’s future. That brings me to the beginning of this essay. Start talking to your child early. I’ll give you a personal example. I am a Social Worker and taught parenting courses for years. My children were very open with me. I was the mom one daughter came to with friends when they suspected another friend of being bulimic. Early on in high school when college was starting to be discussed and then more and more as the time got closer we emphasized that it was normal to experiment. We told them that we expect them to but in moderation. We told them that if they were ever in a position of having had too much to drink and couldn’t get home safely we would pay for a taxi cab. We talked about this so often that at one point our youngest daughter as a senior in high school said, “Do we have to experiment?” We tell that story often. I think we de-mystified alcohol enough that none of our children ever cared much about alcohol. Give it a try. Talk! This is an entry into three_ster’s The 2006 Great Education Write-Off I hope this has helped. Please feel free to leave your own tips, a comment or question. Thanks for reading. jo  |
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