Binge-drinking college students reported being happier than their more sober peers

Binge drinking was associated with higher social status in college, and college students who engaged in binge drinking were happier with their college experience than students who did not binge drink, according to research presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association in Denver.

“Binge drinking is a symbolic proxy for high status in college,” study researcher Carolyn L. Hsu, PhD, associate professor of sociology and chair of the sociology and anthropology department of Colgate University, said in a press release. “It’s what the most powerful, wealthy and happy students on campus do. This may explain why it’s such a desirable activity. When lower status students binge drink, they may be trying to tap into the benefits and the social satisfaction that those kids from high status groups enjoy. And, our findings seem to indicate that, to some extent, they succeed.”

Hsu and colleagues studied the college experiences of 1,595 students attending a selective, Northeastern liberal arts college.

Binge drinking was defined in the study as consuming four (women) or five (men) drinks per session at least once within a 2-week period. Social satisfaction, overall satisfaction with their college experience and academic satisfaction were assessed through surveys. Students were also asked to report their cumulative GPAs.

Sixty-four percent of the students were binge drinkers and 36% were not.

Results show that social satisfaction was a more accurate predictor of students’ overall satisfaction with their college experience than satisfaction with the academic climate or GPA (P<.01).Students of higher status groups, including wealthy, male and white students, as well as students belonging to fraternities or sororities, were consistently happier than peers of lower status groups.

Students of higher status groups consumed significantly more alcohol — approximately twice the amount — than members of low status groups.

“Students who are considered more socially powerful, drink more,” Hsu said.

The researchers also found that when students of lower status groups engaged in binge drinking, their social satisfaction was higher compared with non-binge drinking students of the same status. Similarly, students of higher social status who did not binge drink were less socially satisfied than students of the same status who did binge drink.

“The robustness of the effect of binge drinking across divergent types of social status suggests that it is a general phenomenon undergirding the perpetuation of binge drinking,” the researchers wrote. “It is our hope that by drawing attention to the important social motivations underlying binge drinking, institutional administrators and public health professionals will be able to design and implement programs for students that take into account the full range of reasons that students binge drink.”

Hsu C. Presented at: the 2012 American Sociological Association Annual Meeting; Aug. 17-20, 2012; Denver.