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  Survey finds students binge drinking, driving by IVCC students

    By Maggie Rhynes
    IV Leader Staff

    The re-creation of a 1993 student survey on alcohol consumption has shown that Illinois Valley Community College students are drinking, often binging, and driving while intoxicated.
    Over 461 students were surveyed, 332 were under 21 and 129 were over 21. Of those surveyed, 92 percent have consumed alcohol at some point. For those that have consumed alcohol, 83 percent did so for the first time at the age of 17 or younger.         Apparently, underage drinking is not widely discouraged or fought against in the Illinois Valley. Over two fifths of students said they were allowed to drink in their parent's homes while underage.
    Furthermore, 40 percent of the underage students polled said they had been served alcohol at an establishment in the Illinois Valley. Yet only 11 percent said they use fake identification.
    Based on the result, it seems carding patrons in bars and restaurants is not being enforced as strongly as possible. Even those old enough to purchase alcohol do not have to show their IDs, as 74 percent of students over 21 said they had been served without being carded.
    Perhaps the easy access to alcohol or the approval of parents has led to the number of students who consume alcohol. Whatever the contributing factors, students are drinking often and in large amounts.
    The majority of students polled, 32 percent, said they drink alcohol on a weekly basis. That number is up two percent from the 1993 survey. However, in 1993, 1 in 8 students admitted to drinking on a daily basis. Currently, only 1 in 20 students are drinking daily, a significant improvement over the last 13 years.
    Many students commented on their surveys that they drink because they have nothing better to do. One anonymous student said, "I think that so many kids drink around here because there is a lack of things to do. When there's nothing better to do, you resort to drinking, even if you're just sitting around watching movies and stuff."
    Another anonymous student agreed and pleaded to "get some other activities in this town besides drinking and parties!"
    Another student said, "Illinois Valley is boring and small, so we have nothing else to do."
    What hasn't changed over the years is the number of students who reported binge drinking, which is defined in national studies as routinely drinking 5 or more drinks in a row. The standard is typically consider as 4 drinks in a row for women, but the IV Leader did not ask students to specify their sex.
    From 1993 to 2006 the number of students who are binge drinking remains at half. The number of underage drinkers engaging in binge drinking has decreased, from two thirds in 1993 to just over one half in 2006.
    These percentages are consistently higher than the national average, which states that 40 percent of students binge drink.
    The remainder of IVCC students was split evenly between drinking 1 to 2 drinks or 3 to 4 drinks routinely. Several students commented that they drank responsibly and only with people they could trust. Such as one over-21 student, who drinks only monthly and typically only has one to two drinks. This student said, "If done responsibly, then I see no problem, but if the person is irresponsible then I have a problem with it. I no longer drink and drive for fear I may accidentally injure or kill someone else."
    According to information found on the government-maintained website, www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov, students who attend two-year institutions and commuter schools, such as IVCC, typically drink the least. This is not the case at IVCC, where survey results showed students above the national averages.
    The number of nondrinkers at IVCC is in line with the national average, however. Nationally the percentage of nondrinkers is about 19. At IVCC, the percentage is 18.
    Dozens of survey respondents wrote comments on their surveys explaining that they don't drink, because they know people who are alcoholics. Such as one student who said, "I stopped drinking alcohol about 20 years ago because my husband is an alcoholic, and I had other alcoholics in my family."
    One underage student echoed the same. "I don't drink because my uncle was killed in an accident while drunk, my best friend's mom died on her birthday from alcoholism and my dad was an alcoholic," said the anonymous student.
    The comments on alcoholism continued. "I don't drink because I know what it does," said another student. "My father is an alcoholic, my mother is an alcoholic and both of my sisters drink frequently.”
    The effects of heavy drinking are clearly a major player in IVCC students' judgment and safety. When asked if they had ever engaged in unprotected sex as a result of alcohol consumption, 25 percent of those responding to the question said “yes.” Nearly 10 percent said they couldn't remember.
    The problem of alcohol leading to unsafe sex is occurring nationally. According to national research, 400,000 college-age students have unprotected sex each year as a result of alcohol.
    When it comes to getting behind the wheel of a car, half of the students have done so while drunk. The problem of drunk driving has only worsened since the 1993 survey.
    In 1993, 22 percent of underage students admitted to drunk driving, that number has doubled in the current year. The number of legal students drinking and driving was 64 percent, up 4 percent from 1993.
56 percent have been a passenger in the car of a drunk driver. The effects of drunk driving are clearly widespread and well known among students, as 60 percent claimed to know someone who was in an alcohol-related car accident.
    While the majority of IVCC students are tipping the bottle at some point, there remains a minority of students who have never consumed alcohol. This minority accounted for 8 percent of the surveyed students.
    Some students have consumed alcohol in the past, but have given up the practice. 18 percent of students said they currently never drink.
    Even those who abstain from alcohol use, or use alcohol in a responsible manner are not safe from the effects of it. According to a report by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, "drinking by college students ages 18 to 24 contributes to an estimated 599,000 injuries and 97,000 cases of sexual assault or date rape each year."
    One survey respondent, who admitted to binge drinking, drinking weekly and driving drunk wrote, "I like to wake up in the morning with a story to tell." However, the NIAAA report states that 1,700 college students each year aren't waking up at all. The NIAA cites that number as the number of college students yearly whose deaths resulted from alcohol.
 

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