Introduction
Alcohol abuse is the term used to describe the repeated consumption of alcohol despite experiencing negative impacts. The effects of alcohol drinking include harm to one’s health, the relationship with other people becoming affected, and the ability to do work. Signs that one is abusing alcohol include; becoming irresponsible at work or at school, drinking while on the road among others. Alcoholism also involves physical dependence. Drinking is part and parcel of many cultures all over the world, in most cases; it is a social norm and is taken with friends on various occasions.
College Alcoholism
Partying and alcohol consumption is synonymous with college life. Most college graduates indicate that their drinking habits started on the campus. Most college students are in their late teens and more often than not have all the freedom they need in life. Whenever they have a chance they experiment with and always give lame reasons to explain their drinking habits. They drink way too far from the recommended level in the name of releasing the pressures of school life.
They become addicted and this spills to life after college. Binge drinking in colleges is a social activity but causes both mental and physical harm yet the college students do not stop as stopping means that they will have to lose some or most of their friends (Leibowitz par.1). This drinking is hard to manage as the victims do not realize that they are drinking in excess. In most of the student’s social gatherings, binging is part of the celebration. Once these friends finish schooling, they continue meeting and often drink to celebrate old-time friendship.
After College Drinking
People who attended college portray a very high degree of alcohol consumption. Buddy (par 7) reports that men who completed college showed a high level of risky drinking though this was lower than that of those who didn’t complete formal education. Those not properly educated also depicted higher drunkenness levels and drunk heavily. The report shows that there is a great increase in drinking for those who complete college while men were observed to increase steadily in the level of drinking.
This report also indicated that young female adults who had completed college were drinking less often and when they did, it was with those who had not completed college. It was reported that non-college degree holders were at high-risk alcoholism than their peers who completed college. People with a college education have the lowest.
A survey carried out by Gallup (Nshownpar. 5) has showned that among the Americans, people with a college education recorded the highest response (79%) to the question of whether they had occasion to use beer. This indicates that they actually know when to drink unlike those who had a high school education or less who would be inclined to take beer any time. Postgraduate degree holders showed a 74% response to the same question. The Gallup poll also showed that up to 67% of those who enjoy drinking are graduates from colleges who earn more than 70 dollars a year and believe that drinking will make them smart and rich.
The study has also shown that college students only tend to drink more heavily when they are together with their friends who also drink (Sher & Nanda par2). They report that this behavior will only be elicited in the presence of friends i.e. they are peer-driven and that after college they usually don’t continue with the heavy drinking. The reason given is that these former students take up adult roles like employment and parenting and therefore become more responsible. In their findings, Sher and Nanda (par 6) conclude that lack of an ideal environment that supports heavy drinking after campus may be responsible for the decreased drinking.
Education and Health
There is a great relationship between education and health. A person who is educated may lead a better life than one who has low education. Similarly, because drinking affects people’s health, educated people tend to make better choice when it comes to alcohol and smoking (Groot & Brink 1). Research show interaction between education and health is a positive one. Heavy drinking is increasing being observed in young people of lowest form of secondary education than in adults who have acquired a college degree. The prevalence of smoking and drinking is very high among the lowly educated. Adults with higher education drink more alcohol but do not engage in binge drinking-associated with the lowly educated (Groot & Brink 6).
Conclusion
Education seem to have much more effects on than on income and on productivity, it has effects on the way people perceive their health and therefore on their drinking habits. The rate of drinking decrease when one gets a college degree most probably because of increased responsibilities and due to lack of a social environment. Binge drinking and other behavioral crimes like violence are prevalent among the young and lowly educated while moderate drinking is found among those with college degrees.
References
Buddy T. College drinking. 2007. Web.
Groot, Wim and Brink, Henriëtte. What does education do to our health?. 2010. Web.
Leibowitz, Wanda. The Real Facts, Causes and Effects of Binge Drinking in a College Setting. 2006. Web.
The Real Facts, Causes and Effects of Binge Drinking in a College Setting Newport, Franklin. Beer remains favorite choice for drinkers. 2010. Web.
Sher, J. Kenneth and Nanda, Shivani. Short- and Long-Term Effects of Fraternity and Sorority Membership on Heavy Drinking: A Social Norms Perspective. 2010. Web.