If you have wondered about the validity of the fliers posted around campus that say that eight out of 10 University of Memphis students consume three or fewer alcoholic beverages per week — believe it.
The U of M has been involved in part of a national program to survey students about alcohol and drug use and post true statistics in the hopes of correcting misconceptions about social norms of college life.
Now the third annual survey is being sent out to 300 randomly-selected U of M students.
According to U of M health educator Jacqueline DeFouw, U of M students who participate can win one of five $50 prizes, and have a 1 in 9,600 chance to win a $1,000 prize given out nationally for returning the anonymous mail survey.
The Department of Education’s Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention has been sponsoring the five-year study to survey students about their alcohol use and then post results around campus to let students know the extent of alcohol and drug consumption on college campuses, according to DeFouw.
The program, “Just the Facts,” is something DeFouw said she would like to see decrease binge drinking at The U of M.
“Students come to college with this idea in their head that everyone drinks a lot all of the time, and that just isn’t so,” said DeFouw.
Besides the survey, five anonymous key informants — typically campus police and student life representatives — report on their opinion of the overall success of the project and a focus group reports on their ideas about alcohol advertising. According to DeFouw, all of the information is handled by a graduate student.
Findings of The U of M survey show the substance use and abuse by students.
In the last 30 days:
• 55 percent of students consumed alcohol one or more times, and 19.3 percent used marijuana one or more times.
• 17 percent stayed away from a party or social event because of others’ drinking. • 35.5 percent tried to stop someone from driving under the influence of alcohol and 36.4 percent served as a designated driver.
• When The U of M parties, students consume between zero and 18 drinks — a mean number of 4.44 drinks per person.
• 47.4 percent considered themselves abstinent during the last year of high school. That number, however, fell nearly 10 percent during the first year of college.
• 45.9 percent disagree that the social atmosphere on this campus discourages alcohol use.
According to DeFouw, she is hoping that “Just the Facts” makes an impact at The U of M. Last year’s survey showed that 50 percent of students have not seen or do not remember the “Just the Facts” postings around campus.
However, out of the schools that have participated, the social norms survey program has seemed to show positive results. The University of Missouri-Columbia, for example, reported a decrease of binge drinking — from 60 percent to 53 percent — after social norm marketing.
“It’s a good program,” said DeFouw. “It is showing students the truth to facilitate good choices.”
