Cutting down on college drinking

For most students heavy drinking at college is just a phase but for some it can lead on to alcohol problems later in life and there is always the risk of injury - both to themselves and others - when students drink heavily. Researchers at Oxford Brookes University have been reviewing studies into ways of getting students to cut down on their drinking for the Cochrane database. They looked at data from 22 trials covering a total of 7,275 college and university students. They found that students who were given personalised feedback via the Internet or in face-to-face sessions drank less often and did less binge drinking than those in control groups. Web-based feedback also resulted in significant reductions in blood alcohol content and alcohol-related problems. The theory behind feedback is that most students have exaggerated ideas about how much their contemporaries drink. By pointing out the truth and giving information to the students about their own drinking the idea is to get students to cut down to a more realistic level.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090707201116.htm