Recently, UC’s Residence Life administrators offered social host training to help students monitor the safety and satisfaction of on-campus partygoers; however, some student alcohol risks may extend beyond those which begin at an Ursinus party. Studies are finding that when bars—particularly those near colleges and universities—offer specials on drink prices, their customers may be more likely to consume larger quantities of alcohol than if costs were higher.
In the most recent study, featured in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, University of Florida researchers recognized that while previous studies indicated alcohol costs being inversely proportional to alcohol consumption and alcohol-related issues, they typically did not focus on expenses specifically in a bar setting. Turning away from a general population setting to instead focus on college students’ drinking behaviors, Ryan J. O’Mara, MS, et al. interviewed 804 students departing from 7 different bar scenes near the university, collecting a survey and Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC) reading from each. The information provided the cost, number, size, and type of drink(s) consumed, allowing the researchers to calculate each student’s cost per unit of ethanol. They discovered a 30% decrease in a student’s risk of leaving a bar legally intoxicated, i.e. having a BrAC of 0.08 g or higher, to be linked to a 10-cent increase in ethanol’s cost per gram when purchased there. In other words, according to students’ self-assessments of their alcohol expenses and intakes, higher drink prices at bars typically led to students’ drinking less while there and thus leaving less intoxicated.
One might argue that the study shows a basic supply-and-demand economic concept or that, being permitted into a bar, the students are likely to be at least 21 years old and thus accountable for their own actions regarding alcohol consumption. A 2003 study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, however, concluded that “the ‘wet’ alcohol environment around campuses—including lower sale prices, more promotions, and alcohol advertising at both on- and off-premise establishments—was correlated with higher binge-drinking rates on the college campuses,” according to authors Meichun Kuo, et al. Thus, while drinks—like many consumer-bought items—may be enticing in greater numbers when offered at lower prices, other problems that the resulting intoxication can cause remain with the student once he or she returns to campus.
The studies’ findings may not be far from home for Ursinus students. Does the Trappe’s “silver coin night” sound familiar? Conveniently located on the local tavern’s Web site, a “Specials” menu features an array of happy hours and discounts on drinks or drinks purchased in large quantities, e.g. pitchers. The page also offers cover charge-free entrance fees for all nights except Fridays or Saturdays. Thus, despite Thursday’s popularity as a drinking night for college students and the Trappe’s random dispersal of local band performances throughout the week, students can see the bands free of charge on the same night that several drinks are significantly discounted—another potential motivator for drinks to be consumed in higher numbers.
UC senior Kira Oldham-Curtis, 22, agrees that O’Mara, et al.’s conclusions make sense. “It really is a rip off to get a drink at the bar,” she says.
Also citing that discounted drinks and their advertisements have been linked to college students’ alcohol consumptions, Harvard School of Public Health researchers Elissa R. Weitzman, et al. note that, “Features of local alcohol economics, in addition to characteristics of drinkers, may influence drinking behavior among college students,” according to a Health and Place article. In other words, while reduced drink prices may tempt students to purchase more of them, the student’s drinking characteristics regardless of expenditures continue to play a role. Nonetheless, O’Mara et al. view their findings as a suggestion that regulating drink discounting by on-premise drinking establishments, such as bars near colleges or universities, may be a beneficial tactic in reducing the intoxication levels of the students who leave them.
Back to The Grizzly Online
No comments:
Post a Comment