BOOZING AND BRAWLING ON CAMPUS - A NATIONAL STUDY OF VIOLENT PROBLEMSASSOCIATED WITH DRINKING OVER THE PAST DECADE

There has been an increase in alcohol-related violent crime in the Uni ted States since the early 1980s. Concomitantly there has been a decre ase in per capita consumption of alcohol. Cultural Theory suggests tha t students will follow the trends of society in terms of behaviors suc h as alcohol consumption and violence related to drinking. Subcultural Theory, on the other hand, suggests that these behaviors will reflect subcultural rather than societal trends. Thus, the purpose of this st udy was to determine possible changes in drinking patterns and violent behavior related to drinking from 1982 until 1991 with the same sampl e of universities from all contiguous states in the United States. A s econdary purpose was to test the Cultural and Subcultural models of be havior. Based on a sample of over 4,000 students, at each of four time periods over the past decade, a significant (p < .001) decrease in th e percentage of students reporting that they had consumed alcohol at l east once during the preceding year was found. The percentage declined from 82.4 in 1982 to 78.8 in 1991. Likewise, there was a significant (p < .001) decrease in the mean amount of alcohol consumed (14.3 to 12 .8 drinks per week between 1982 and 1991). With regard to self-reporte d violent/legal problems related to drinking, there were significant i ncreases (p < .001) in the percentages of students who had ''gotten in to a fight'' (11.6 to 17.2) and had had ''trouble with the law'' (4.4 to 7.6) between 1982 and 1991 because of drinking. Likewise, there wer e significant increases (p < .05) in the percentages who had engaged i n vandalism (9.3 to 10.5) and had had ''trouble with the school admini stration'' (1.9 to 2.5) because of drinking. The results of this study support the Cultural Theory of behavior in that the students' drinkin g and violence related to drinking appear to have followed the trends of the United States as a whole over the past decade.