Binge drinking among undergraduate college students in the United States: Implications for other substance use

The authors examined the relationship between binge drinking and other subs tance use among US college students, using nationally representative data f rom the 1995 National College Health Risk Behavior Survey implemented by th e Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Compared with nonbinge drinke rs, current binge drinkers were significantly more likely to report "ever" using and current use of cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, and other illegal drugs. The researchers also found that the more often students binge drank, the more likely they were to have ever used cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine , and other drugs, and the more likely they were to report current use of c igarettes and marijuana. Those who design programs to prevent binge drinkin g and use of other substances should take into account the reality that man y students use more than one substance and that the more frequently student s report binge drinking, the more likely they are to be using other substan ces as well.