On college campuses across the country high risk drinking occurs every weekend, otherwise known as binge drinking. After a four days of classes students are typically ready to let loose come Thursday or Friday night. Many young adults will consume alcohol as much and as fast as they can – a behavior which can have devastating consequences.
Young adults have little understanding of their limits, and often cross the line. Fighting, sexual assault and driving under the influence are a few problems that typically accompany binge drinking. College faculty members are always working hard to limit their students exposure to alcohol, and educating them about safe drinking practices.
A new tool to help limit college binge drinking has been introduced by the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA), CNN reports. The College Alcohol Intervention Matrix, or CollegAIM, is an alcohol intervention guide which includes a variety of techniques for curbing college drinking, such as requiring Friday morning classes to restricting happy hours.
“This new matrix-based instrument is one of the most thoroughly vetted and user-friendly summaries of intervention strategies I have seen in decades,” Jonathan Gibralter, Ph.D., chair of the NIAAA College Presidents Working Group to Address Harmful and Underage Drinking, in a news release.
The NIAAA has found that every year college binge drinking is linked to an estimated:
“Despite our collective efforts to address it, high-risk drinking remains a significant and persistent problem on U.S. campuses,” said George Koob, Ph.D., NIAAA Director. “While college officials have numerous options for alcohol interventions, they are not all equally effective. CollegeAIM can help schools choose wisely among available strategies, boosting their chances for success and helping them improve the health and safety of their students.”
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