Review on Related Literature (RRL) Essay

fresh info on college duration inebriantic foxism from NIH, specifically the depicted obj electroshock Institute on intoxicant mis hold and Alcoholism (NIAAA)its first update since an initial review in 1976 has brought to light the signifi lott consequences of gorge insobriety among college savants. While the incidence of regular intoxi bathtism has remained stable, the incidence of binge inebriety has sharply change magnitude. With it, the many inauspicious effects of over usance of inebriant kitty be life shattering non only among individuals and friends, but families. This level serves as a reminder of the serious effects of alcoholic beverageic drinkic beverage that whitethorn begin in youthfulness and extend into small adulthood. This report importantly draws attention to the many serious consequences of binge inebriety including blackouts, alcohol overdoses, motor vehicle accidents, silly academic performance, falls resulting in serious injuries, as well as the many lasting effects of sexual assaults (unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases), and even death.For example, numerous studies advertise that as binge imbibing increases, a college students risk of experiencing adverse effects of alcohol exercising signifi croupetly increases. As an example, a recent try from Harvard revealed that students who binge champion or two propagation during a 2-week period atomic number 18 nearly three times as appargonnt as nonbinge confuseers to buzz off a blackout, take on unprotected or unplanned sex, destroy property, suffer an injury, do peaked(predicate) in school, gestate a run-in with the police or drive after consuming alcohol. The seat line is that the report provided a over ofttimes rented update well-nighwhat the deglutition behavior of college students as well as the negative consequences which are the end result. Contrary to popular beliefs, inebriationing levels confirm truly remained relati vely unchanged at the same level on college campuses during the past 30 classs or so. Two out of five male and female students take share in binge intoxication. riot boozing is defined as having more than 5 or more drinks in wiz school term for guide force and four for women. What is clear from the report is that estimates of the rates of alcohol use and accompanying consequences are faraway from ideal. Missing data re previous(a)d to drink sizes along with the effects of alcohol on memory set off the convoluted collection of precise data from tralatitious self-report surveys. In addition, sexual assaults are often under describe lede to alack of accuracy in estimating the true scope of the task. Further, mortality records may often take off out college specific information and because alcohol levels are not checked as commonly in nontraffic-related deaths leaves gaps of fill outledge regarding the true number of college students who die from alcohol-related causes on an annual basis. Adding to this, college specific information is generally not contained in to the mellowedest degree hospital records or crime scene reports.There are two restless national data surveys which evaluate drinkable behavior of college students in the US. Monitoring the Future (MTF) is a p.a. nationwide survey of alcohol and other drug use with examining 50,000 students in 8th, l0th, and 12th grades pooled from 420 public and mysterious schools. Roughly 2,400 graduating seniors undergo repeat surveys in following years, to canvas evolution of trends in aspects of college imbibition. The second peter is the content Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), a yearly survey underwritten by the Sub post Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). It involves on cardinal on maven interview with over 67,000 children and teens above the age of 12 examining alcohol and other patterns of drug use.According to a meta-analysis by Carey and colleagues in 2012, campus initiatives to degrade as well as prevent binge swallow have had a signifi appriset tinge base on research data. Additional data from MTF suggests that levels of binge drunkenness are declining among 12th graders, especially males. As researchers employ more effective measurement tools coupled with improvements in prevention, a reduction in high school drinking go forth hopefully translate into a downward trend of alcohol use among college students and the negative consequences which can be the end result.According to this article, stuff drinking gives an enormous impact on students especially on college levels. Various effects can be facecased based upon the statement of the article. As enumerated, alcohol brings instances that spend to things that are capable of misconduct and crime some(prenominal)(prenominal) as unwanted pregnancy, drink and drive, fist fight and even more that includes death for the nearly part. fill drinking in particular is a continuous d rinking of more than 4 shots or sparkler as well as consecutive days of drinking sessions. Thus, not an essential health enclothe specially in males. As it is, this kind of routine mainly by men has sharply increased cresting to a critical awareness of the government. These recent studies showed that there is an abrupt increase on the levels of drinking practices in young teens and this may bring forth when they reach adulthood. Upon reaching adult stage with drinking habits intact, another(prenominal) set of high crimes in particular can be formed out of it.Thus, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism are active and very supportive in making various actions towards the case of binge drinking on college students. Drinking must be avoided because college is one step towards living the real life. Thus, they must be aware of what alcohol can bring them and lead them towards. Yet when theyre in college, they are already capable of proper thinking and mature sufficie nt in making wise decisions in life. To prevent and be responsible equal towards binge drinking is essential and beneficial so that one can save money and health as well. At the University at capital of New York in 2000, Chad Waxman fail the profile of a college student primed for risky drinking A freshman male fraternity brother who drank in high school, Waxman chose capital of New York in part for its balance between work and play. I wanted that time to let loose, he formulates. Despite the predictors, Waxman sailed with college in health and happiness, even serving in student government and winning multiple leaders awards at the university before graduating in 2003.He went on to earn his masters degree in counseling psychology and school counseling from Albany in 2005 and is now a PsyD candidate at Nova Southeastern University. How did Waxman, now 33, avoid the pitfalls of drinking common among college students? Thats a question psychologists are searching deeply. After all, each year, more than 1,825 college students die from alcohol-related accidents and nearly 600,000 are injured while drunk, match to a 2009 study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. other 696,000 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking, and 97,000 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape, the study lay down. Then theres the 25 percent of college students who report academic consequences related to alcohol a hangover can quickly stand out plans for class or study and the 11 percent who admit damaging property after a wickedness of drinking (Journal of American College Health, 2002).An estimated 5 percent get into legal trouble as a result of alcohol, the same study arrange. In all, of the 80 percent of college students who drink alcohol, half binge drink, or consume just about four drinks in two hours for women and five in twohours for men, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). College drinking is manytimes still viewed as a harmless rite of passage, when in fact college students are drinking more than any other age or demographic grouping, says psychologist James Murphy, PhD, of the University of Memphis, who studies addictive and health risk behaviors, including among college students. Thats particularly dangerous presumption up that research shows this age group is much more impulsive even when alcohols not involved, he says. Theres in addition secernate suggesting that excessive alcohol use in young adulthood may impair adept development, including in cognition and memory, according to the NIAAA. But college in addition presents an right time to equip students with the skills to approach alcohol intelligently, says Murphy.With 63 percent of young Americans ages 25 to 29 having entire at least some college, according to a report from the Pew Research Center, the setting is a last prevention point for our society to address the risks associated with drinking, he says. (Most research on college drinking so far involves mainly full-time students in four-year colleges and universities.) For Waxman, the time was ripe. As a peer facilitator in Albanys Counseling Center, he seconded motivate other students and in effect, himself to shift their drinking behaviors apply one of many emerging noises designed and tested by psychologists. The approaches address why a student drinks and are tailored for specific populations of students, such as athletes and freshmen.Some interventions are targeted to align with specific events, such as 21st birthday celebrations, as a way to reroute dangerous decisions made on a night that notoriously gets out of inhibit. Through learning the realities of alcohol, I realized you dont have to drink like its a competition to have fun, Waxman says. Most important, these interventions are evidence-based, says bloody shame Larimer, PhD, director of the University of caps Center for the Study of Health and Risk Beh aviors and associate director of the Addictive Behaviors Research Center. We know a lot more about what influences excessive alcohol use in this population and we can tailor the interventions to address those risk cistrons as well, Larimer says. Thats contributed to our great power to draw and quarter a difference.Prevention efforts matchless way psychologists are fine-tuning their efforts is by pinpointing who is most at risk for capers related to drinking. So far, research indicates that those most at risk are incoming freshmen, student athletes and those involved in the Greek system. Studies withal show that men tend to drink more on average than women but women progress faster over time from alcohol use to abuse, says Larimer. In fact, one study led by psychologist Bettina Hoeppner, PhD, of Harvard Medical drills Center for Addiction Medicine, found that college women exceed the NIAAAs weekly limits more often than men (Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research, 2013) . The gender gaps have closed a lot, Larimer says.Personality factors, such as impulsivity and sensation-seeking, also contribute to risky drinking. Psychological research suggests that how contrary people respond to alcohol can help predict whose behavior impart become problematic. Those who need a lot to experience its effects or who experience more of alcohols stimulating rather than sedative effects, for example, are at higher risk. Students who overestimate how much their peers drink, as well as those who expect great things from alcohol (I will feel outgoing and meet my prox boyfriend), are more likely to overindulge and experience alcohols negative consequences, such as engaging in unsafe sex, adds Larimer. Another factor appears to distinguish between students who drink a lot however remain relatively safe and those who drink the same amount or less yet suffer the consequences inherent intoxication.In other words, a students likelihood to get into trouble during or afte r drinking has as much to do with how drunk he or she feels as it does with how much he or she actually drinks, according to an NIAAA-funded study conducted by Kim Fromme, PhD, of the University of Texas at Austins SAHARA Lab (Studies on Alcohol, Health and Risky Activities) and colleagues. And those different perceptions could have biological roots, Fromme says. Were predicting specific genetic influences on those differences in peoples subjective levels of intoxication, she says. Why a student drinks can also reveal a lot about how problematic his or her alcohol use may become, according to Clayton Neighbors, PhD, who directs the University of Houstons Social Influences and Health Behaviors Lab. While some students drink for mixer and environmental reasons, such as being at a party, others drink for horny reasons, such as coping with a bad grade or a breakup. Its the last mentioned group who may be turning to alcohol to handle another mental health problem such as post-traumati c stress disorder, depression or anxiety whose members are primed for long-term alcohol abuse, researchers say.Up until the late 1990s, most colleges and universities approached risky drinking from a one-size-fits-all perspective. Campus-wide awareness campaigns and educational sessions during freshman druthers were popular but ineffective, the NIAAA Task Force on College Drinking found in 2002. That changed in 1999 when the late psychologist Alan Marlatt, PhD, of the University of Washington, and his team introduced Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students, or bedrock. The intervention is used in change forms by colleges nationwide when students come in for primary vex or mental health function or are referred for an alcohol-related offense. fundamental principle gives students personalized feedback on their drinking behaviors, including comparing how much they drink with how much the average student on their campus drinks. The intervention also uses mot ivational interviewing by asking students open-ended, non-judgmental questions to explore drinking behaviors and generate motivation to change. Finally, it offers individualized strategies such as putting ice in drinks or appoint a designated driver to help students drink in less risky ways.The method, which has been shown to reduce how much students drink as well as to reduce related negative consequences up to four years out, meets NIAAAs highest standards for evidence-based college drinking interventions (American Journal of Public Health, 2001). But BASICS doesnt work for every student. Those with high levels of social anxiety, for example, arent easily influenced to change by the notion that theyre overestimating how much their peers really drink. This can make them less receptive to the norms correction component of BASICS, a 2012 study in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors finds. well-nigh one-third of students who receive the intervention dont change their drinking habits. Another drawback to the intervention is staffing The traditional method requires one or two 50-minute sessions with a trained facilitator, who is often a mental health professional. Thats why many psychologists are experimenting with variations of BASICS, such as by offering it in a Web-based format or presented by trained peers, rather than by mental health professionals.Researchers are also looking at ways to shorten the intervention A 2013 study in Addictive Behaviors by Larimer and colleagues found that a 10-minute version of BASICS was just as effective as a 50-minute one. Larimer says bring down the intervention by picking and choosing from among its individual components namely, the part that corrects students misperceptions of campus norms and the one that offers strategies for safer drinking might be enough to elicit short-term effects and to work for students at lower risk. The more comprehensive interventions, then, may have longer-lasting effects, she suspects, but s he says more research is needed to tease apart which variations work for whom. Theres also evidence that students can deliver the interventions just as effectively as mental health professionals. In one study, Larimer and colleagues delivered a BASICS-like intervention to 12 fraternities, varying who gave them feedback either a peer interviewer or a professional research staffer. They found that both groups signifi careenly reduced their alcohol intake when compared with controls (Journal of Alcohol Studies, 2001).Another study led by Fromme that looked at peers and professional providers who headed an alcohol prevention lifestyle management traverse for college students found similar outcomes (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2004). But the research comes with caveats, says University at Albany psychologist Maria Dolores Cimini, PhD, who explored peer facilitators dominance with a five-year study funded by an NIAAA Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems grant and got mixed results. Students can deliver these interventions, but they must be well-trained and very closely supervised, she says (Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 2009). Waxman, who became trained as a peer facilitator at Albanys Counseling Center during his sophomore year, said his efforts paying off among the peers he intervened with. Having someone you can relate to saying, This is the reality, really changes behavior, he says.At the University at Albany Counseling Center, an intervention called the STEPS Comprehensive Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention Program takes BASICS and tailors it for specific populations of high-risk drinkers, including first-year students, student athletes and students seeking primary health and mental health care on campus. A student athlete, for example,learns how alcohol affects hydration and athletic performance even days after fetching the last sip. The observe is speaking the students language, says Cimini, who directs the p rogram. If we cant engage students and get them in for the intervention in the first place, we lose a golden opportunity to mobilize the change process at a time when students are most resilient and receptive to interventions. In surveys conducted three and six months post-intervention, STEPS has been shown to significantly reduce alcohol use and risky behavior among each subgroup.Colleges, universities, community-based mental health service providers and higher-education-focused consortia crossways at least five states, including Washington, Pennsylvania and Mississippi have been trained in the method, and it has been accepted for inclusion in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations National registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices, Cimini says. That means its been peer-reviewed and is ready to be disseminated. At the University of Memphis, Murphys team is go on personalizing BASICS by adding a one-hour supplement during which clinicians talk to s tudents about their goals for college and beyond and then show them how their drinking patterns fit in with those aspirations. A student who wants to be a practice of lawyer, for instance, might be given information about a pre-law club as well as the GPA typically needed to get into law school and to earn his desired future salary.The clinician then shows the student a plot based on his responses to an assessment revealing the number of hours per week he typically spends drinking compared with studying or alive(p) in other academic activities. With the graph on hand, the two might then consider authority schedule changes such as dedicating one night a week to law club and another to homework to be more invariable with the students long-term goals. Students often dont think about their behavior in these sorts of aggregates, and when theyre forced to do so, theyre motivated to change, Murphy says. The approach is based on behavioral economics, or the idea that behavior is influen ced by availability and cost. In college, where beer is typically forte and abundant, the framework helps to explain why drinking often gets out of control. But by highlighting openhearted alternatives to partying, the approach suggests students will be more likely to steer clear of alcohols temporary rewards. All of that unstructured time, and a lack of awarenessof the future benefits of engaging in college or the community, is a lot of what is fueling this binge drinking problem, he says.The approach appears to be working In a preliminary study, Murphys team found that the intervention significantly reduced alcohol problems and grievous drinking among participants. With a new grant from the NIAAA, theyre now looking to replicate those findings and track the interventions long-term effects, on both drinking and college outcomes. Given that the goals of the intervention are so consistent with the goals of universities, once we can show long-term effects, Im optimistic that colle ges will like it, he says. Another emerging way to intervene with college drinking targets certain events, rather than people. Twenty-first birthdays are notoriously dangerous In a 2011 study of 150 students in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors by Fromme and colleagues, participants reported drinking an average of 10.85 drinks on their 21st birthday. Many also experienced blackouts, had unsafe sex and meshed in other risky behaviors.To keep students safe on that milestone birthday, psychologists are looking at ways to time interventions so that students are reminded to use protective strategies if they plan to celebrate with alcohol. In one study by Neighbors and colleagues, for example, students received one of five BASICS-oriented interventions one week before their 21st birthdays (the interventions varied, with some being Web-based or in person, and some from each group involving a friend).Compared with a control group that received no intervention, the in-person interventions a nd some of the Web-based ones reduced negative consequences students had on their birthdays. The BASICS interventions that didnt explicitly talk about the risks of 21st birthdays, but rather the risks of drinking in general, reduced both alcohol use and risky behavior, the study found (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2012). While the event-specific approach is promising, its a short-term fix for a larger problem, Neighbors says. The bigger picture question is How do we change the culture of drinking on college campuses? It will take more time.According to the study, drinking gave numerous valid percentages based upon statistical data conducted. The data gave inkling on what instances can be extracted for further results. Such as, college drinking can beincontrollable if not prevented or diverted by another hobby since college level can have more time binge drinking compared to adult level persons. Making worse results relating to numeral crimes. Although drinking may be a bad thing, but it can also be beneficial in a reason that college is the specific stage on which students can act and drink responsibly yet some may not be able to resist against it. As stated by Mary Larimer PhD, there are a lot of reasonable statements on why and what triggers alcoholism on college students. This stance of Mary Larimer gave a more mature understanding on the study of college drinking towards a students academic performance. Alcohol is a potent beverage that can stimulate ones emotions.According to recent study, males are more prominent in the field of alcoholism than women yet the antagonist sex are more abusive than males. In terms of medical and scientific studies, alcohol impulses the soul to do things that are beyond limits and enhances the mind in a worse perception such as malevolent actions and false decisions payable to unconsciousness of the environment. In some other points and limits, alcohol can overleap brain functions and in a much worse eff ect such as intoxication referable to dizziness and continual vomiting. The NIAAA and other government organizations that is active in alcoholism awareness are continually making programs for the benefit of those students especially on college on how to control and prevent binge drinking that may lead up to intoxication and other poor decisions to be made. Through mature viewpoints and decisions, one can prevent alcoholism based upon focus and willingness. Importantly, one should consider and keep memories intact of how alcohol can make your mind, health, and wealth be depleted in an instant.Worst thing is, unnoticed. The extent to which alcohol usage impacts on both the mensuration and quality of merciful capital accumulation is an important question given that it has long run implications for earnings. Following the human capital model developed by Becker (1964), an individual will range in acquiring additional levels of human capital based on the expected settle in future e arnings. This decision takes into account both the be of schoolhouse and the rate at which future benets are discounted. At the same time, facing both budget and time constraints, students make decisions about how much alcohol to consume. The consumption of alcohol can be expected to have a negative impact on schooling both directly through its potential impact on cognitive abilityand indirectly through its impact on study habits. A negative correlation between alcohol consumption and schooling also may be observed, however, due to the fact that individuals who face high costs and/or place a lower value on future earnings may invest less in schooling and at the same time these individuals may be more likely to engage in heavy drinking behavior.Hence, controlling for the potential endogeneity between drinking and schooling is of key importance in establishing a causal link between alcohol use and schooling outcomes. Establishing such a causal link will inform policy makers about th e impact of alcohol policies on human capital accumulation and the potential to reduce productivity losses associated with increased alcohol consumption. The results from the alert literature that examines the impact of alcohol consumption on educational attainment is mixed. Not surprisingly, studies that do not account for the potential endogeneity between drinking and schooling measures nd that alcohol consumption signicantly reduces schooling levels. In this regard, picture on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), Yamada, Kendix and Yamada (1996) found that both the number of hard drink and wine drinks consumed during the past week and being a frequent drinker signicantly reduced the probability of high school graduation. A 10% increase the probability of being a frequent drinker was found to reduce the likelihood of graduation by 6.5%. Also without accounting for endogeneity, Mullahy and Sindelar (1994) used data from the Wave 1 of the New haven site of the Nation al Institute of Mental Health Epidemiological Catchment 3Area survey and found that alcoholic symptoms prior to age 22 reduced years of schooling by 5%.Among the studies that control for the possible correlation between the unobservables that aect both drinking and schooling choice, the results range from signicant to moderate to no eect at all of youthful drinking on educational attainment. Using two-stage-leastsquares (2SLS) to account for endogeneity, Cook and Moore (1993) draw on the NLSY to examine the eect of alcohol consumption (number of drinks per week, frequent drinking, and being frequently drunk) on the years of post-secondary schooling. The authors found that all three drinking measures signicantly reduce years of schooling with frequent drinkers completing 2.3 years less of college. Most recently, Koch and Ribar (2001) use data on samesex siblings from the1979-90 NLSY to examine the eect of the age at which youths rst drank regularly on the number of years of schooling faultless by age 25. Using a siblings IV model, the results suggest that the eect of drinking onset is moderate delaying drinking for a year leads to 1/4 year of additional schooling. However, drawing on 1977-92 Monitoring the Future data, Dee and Evans (1997) use a two-sample instrumental variables procedure relying on within-state variation in their instruments to examine the eect of being a drinker, moderate drinker, and heavy drinker on high-school closedown and college entrance and attainment.Overall, they nd that controlling for endogeneity, teen drinking does not have a signicant eect on educational attainment. Similarly, based on NLSY data, Chatterji (1998) nds that her estimation results based on models that account for endogeneity reveal no signicant eect of teen alcohol consumption on the number of grades completed by age 21. Most of this literature focuses on the educational outcomes related to prior teenage drinking behavior. In this paper, we propose to focus on co llege-level educational outcomes as a result of current drinking behavior. This is a particularly relevant issue, given that alcohol is a common element in the environments of most college campuses (in 1999, the annual alcohol prevalence rate among college students was 83.6% (Wechsler, Lee, Kuo and Lee, 2000)).Drawing on information available in the Harvard direct of Public Health College Alcohol 4Study (CAS), we provide evidence on the extent to which alcohol consumption impacts on college study habits which in turn are expected to aect human capital accumulation. Assessing the mechanisms through which alcohol consumption impacts schooling may shed further light on the extent to which policies aimed at reducing alcohol consumption among young adults may aect the quality and quantity of human capital accumulation. Current evidence exists on the direct eect of drinking on cognitive ability. Based on clinical studies, Nordby (1999) showed that drinking reduces recall which can be exp ected to have a direct eect on schooling. However, we are not aware of existing empirical evidence of the eects of alcohol consumption on indirect eects such as study habits. We examine the impact of alcohol consumption dened by the average number of drinks consumed per drinking occasion among college students who drink on the probability of skipping a class and getting behind in school.We use a two-stage generalized least squares estimation procedure to accountfor potential correlation in the unobservables that determine drinking behavior and study habits. Generating consistent estimates of the eect of drinking on college study habits requires an exogenous source of variation in college drinking. That is, we require variables that aect college drinking levels but do not directly aect study habits. In this regard, we use the price of alcohol, college-level information on access to alcohol, and state-level alcohol policies to identify alcohol consumption. Our results reveal that give n the endogeneity of college drinking and study habits, single-stage estimation methods overestimate the true eect of the quantity of college drinking on the likelihood of missing a class and getting behind in school. To further investigate the study habit behavior of our college sample, we also estimate our model separately by year of class. We nd dierential eects of drinking on the study habits of freshman and their upper-year counterparts. Our paper is organized as follows. scratch 2 describes our model of the relationship between alcohol consumption and study habits. Section 3 describes our data and summary statistics.Our estimation results are presented in section 4 and we conclude in section 5 with a discussion of potential policy implications to improve study habits and reduce productivity losses due to alcohol consumption among college students. Alcohol consumption has occurred for thousands of years. In many parts of the world, drinking alcoholic beverages is a common feat ure of social gatherings. Underage drinkers are susceptible to the immediate consequences of alcohol use, including blackouts, hangovers, and alcohol poisoning, and are at elevated risk of neuro-degeneration (particularly in regions of the brain responsible for learning and memory), impairments in functional brain activity, and neuro-cognitive defects . In addition to the individuals personality itself, many variables influence drinking behavior genetics gender ethnicity college religiosity occupation marital status friends and family. Young college students are especially vulnerable to alcohol and this wide availability favors abusive use.Despite of all risks, they are still not protected by laws against alcohol industry and therefore, it is cognize that they represent the main target population of advertising campaigns, which encourage alcohol use as a way to belong to their group, innocuousdom, and especially, entrance to adulthood, a sense of being free from the family contro l. Worldwide studies have addressed thebehavior of college students regarding psychoactive substances. Most of them focused on the vulnerability of students and the need to encourage intervention and preventive measures about alcohol consumption. College students consume more alcohol than their age-matched, nonstudent peers. How does problem drinking affect young peoples schooling? In some cases the linkage between problem drinking and study habits is profound. Drinking can affect the biological development of young people as well as their school-related achievement and behavior.Serious alcohol use among youth has significant neurological consequences. Alcohol damages areas of the brain responsible for learning and memory, verbal skills and visual-spatial cognition. Diagnosticians often find that these skills in adolescents who drink are deficient in comparison to those who arent drinking. Scientists know that alcohol problems are tied to lower grades, poor attendance and increases in dropout rates. The 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA now known as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health), a federal study, found that as rates of alcohol use by 12- to 17-year-olds increase, grade point averages decrease. Middle school students whose peers avoid using alcohol and other drugs score higher on state reading and math tests than other students. In any given age group, heavy and binge drinkers are 4-6 times more likely than nondrinkers to say they cut classes or skipped school. They are twice as likely as nondrinkers to say that their school work is poor, and they report more frequently that they are disobedient at school. Among high school students, those who use alcohol are five times more likely to drop out than those who dont use alcohol. These problems are not limited to the middle and high school setting hangovers and drinking by college students lead to missed classes and falling behind in school work.