A researcher who has closely examined the college drinking culture at three institutions across the United States concludes that problem drinking among students -- including binge drinking, public intoxication and alcohol consumption that leads to drunk driving and the commission of sexual and other assaults -- owes largely to a phenomenon he calls "drunk support."

Drunk support derives from the assumption of students themselves that, as a campus collectivity, they will drink. It is essentially a system of sorts that exists on all campuses that encourages the drinking scene and the realization of a comfort level while drinking through drinking games and shared camaraderie.

Without corresponding support as drinking becomes problematic for one or more students, the outcomes can be decidedly negative, as colleges and college towns well know. However, where drunk support also includes protection of students who have over imbibed and intervention by people in their midst who have some training in recognizing and responding to alcohol-related issues, the results can be salutary.

For example, more schools are acknowledging that students do care about each other and often engage in self-policing efforts to keep things safe. Thomas Vander Ven, the Ohio University researcher who has interviewed hundreds of college students and conducted scores of hours of research at college parties and bars, says that colleges and universities who assist in drunk support efforts can help make student drinking "a less dangerous enterprise."

Vander Ven recognizes that this is not always easy, that "Harm reduction in general is controversial -- the idea that we sort of just resign ourselves to the fact that [student drinking] is out there."

Vander Ven believes, though, that whatever works should be employed, whether it is a group of students who simply stay sober to watch their peers who are drinking or a group of students trained in CPR and paid out of school funds to attend parties and keep a watchful eye.

Vander Ven's book on the subject, Getting Wasted, ends with this sentence: "If you are going to drink (and we know that many of you are), I have just one request. Take care of each other."

Related Resource: Inside Higher Ed, "Drunk Support" Aug. 3, 2011