“College students have a reputation of unbridled drinking,” states Psychology Today. However, a recent study at Hobart and William Smith Colleges indicated students’ perceptions of collegiate drinking were considerably different from what was actually happening on campuses (Berkowitz, Perkins 1986).

An extension of this study has been conducted with NIU students yearly since 1988. Health Enhancement Services, funded by the U.S. Office of Education, surveyed over 2,100 randomly selected students in academic classes. Both studies produced similar results.

Students overestimate the number of heavy drinkers, underestimate the number of non-drinkers and moderate drinkers, and think drunkenness is more acceptable than it is.

Students were asked, “How many drinks do you usually have when you ‘party?'” Then they were asked, “How many drinks do you think most students usually have when they party?”

Students were asked about “their own attitude” toward drunkenness and what they thought was “the attitude on this campus in general.”

In other words, NIU students think that more than six times as many students approve of these forms of drunken behavior than actually do (5 percent actual approval vs. 31 percent perceived approval).

So what!? Sociologists theorize that people’s perceptions affect their behavior. If college students perceive that heavy drinking and drunken behavior are more common and acceptable than they actually are, then there is license to participate in and display these behaviors more often.

Conversely, if NIU students become aware of the actual attitudes and practices of their fellow students, then they will get drunk less often.

Getting drunk less often results in fewer falls, fights, accidental pregnancies, STDs and sexual assaults, thus generally improving the quality of life on campus.

For more information about alcohol and healthy drinking, stop by the Wellness Resource Center in the Holmes Student Center, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. M-F, or call 753-1435.