Parents: Alcohol & Learning

Addressing Alcohol's Effects on Academic Performance (1)

"Addressing this problem needs to be a priority. Students deserve to have a safe environment that is conducive to study and personal growth. Faculty need to have students who are prepared and attentive in class. Parents deserve to know that academic officials are exercising their responsibility to create a safe environment for their children. Taxpayers deserve to know that their money is being spent wisely and not being used to subsidize a four-year party.

While recent studies have only begun to document the relationship between academic performance and alcohol use on American campuses, more research is needed. Anecdotal evidence points to a number of questions needing further examination so that we can understand the full impact of alcohol abuse on students, colleges, and society. These include:

• What proportion of academic warnings and probations can be attributed to alcohol abuse?
• What proportion of entering students each year end up dropping out due to alcohol abuse?
• What price is paid in terms of lost wages and job opportunities by students who never complete their college degrees?
• What burden do these dropouts place on society as a result of their lost productivity in the workplace?

There is little doubt that alcohol use has a damaging effect on academic performance. In fact, one national study showed that, at four-year institutions, college students with an "A" average consume 3.3 drinks per week, whereas students with a "D" or "F" average consume 9.0 drinks per week. The same study showed that sizable percentages of college students also report having done poorly on a test or project or having missed class because of their alcohol or other drug use in the previous twelve months.

Another national study conducted at four-year colleges and universities by Henry Wechsler of the Harvard School of Public Health found that, since the beginning of the school year, nearly one-third of high-risk drinkers had missed class and 21 percent had fallen behind in their school work because of their drinking. Among frequent high-risk drinkers-- students who had engaged in high-risk drinking three or more times in the previous two weeks-- over 60 percent had missed class and 46 percent had fallen behind in school because of their drinking.

It is not just those who use alcohol and other drugs who are affected by that use. The Harvard study found that, on campuses where more than half the students were classified as binge drinkers, 68 percent of non-binge drinkers reported that, since the beginning of the academic year, their studying or sleep had been interrupted because of other students' use of alcohol."

(1) From Virginia Tech's site: http://www.alcohol.vt.edu/Faculty/academics.htm