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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Florin Oprescu, MPH¹, Christopher Layton², and Shelly Campo, PhD¹. (1) Community and Behavioral Health, University of Iowa, College of Public Health, GH, 200 Hawkins Dr, E177, #149, Iowa City, IA 52242, 319 384 4129, florin-oprescu@uiowa.edu, (2) Rhetoric, University of Iowa, University of Iowa, Rhetoric, 171 EPB, Iowa City, IA 52242

Heavy alcohol use is recognized as a major public health problem among college students. Excessive drinking results in death and serious injuries. Goodhart et al. (2003) suggest that labeling this issue as binge drinking is problematic because students misinterpret the term. They suggest alternatives such as “dangerous” drinking. At a Midwestern University “extreme” drinking (ED) was selected based on student input for a health campaign. However, based on a survey of 381 (70% response rate) students, researchers determined that students' open-ended definitions of ED varied widely. Students' definitions were coded by two coders (inter-coder reliability averaged 0.88) for the presence/absence of 14 constructs. Example responses included: drink until one passes out (25.6% of respondents), large unspecified amounts of alcohol (21.8%), drink to get drunk (20.3%), drink until one looses control (16.3%) or one does not remember the next day (14%), drink until one throws up (13.1%), drink beyond personal limit (10.5%), drink a number of times per week (9.6%), more than 5 servings/sitting (9.3%), binge drinking (8.43%), drink until you get sick (6.1%), and alcohol poisoning (2.9%), Responses demonstrate large variability in student's definitions of ED and did not vary based on one's drinking level or gender. While health educators desire to use student language and to avoid backlash, lack of specificity is unhelpful. More specificity in numbers of drinks or blood alcohol content is required to avoid individual interpretations that can be used by students to mistakenly feel that they are behaving in a responsible and healthy manner.

Learning Objectives: