What is Binge drinking?
Binge drinking involves drinking that causes a blood alcohol concentration of .08%.
Binge drinking is defined as (in a 2 hour period):
- 4 or more drinks for females
- 5 or more drinks for males
or - 5 drinks total for either men or women
Prevalence of binge drinking & alcohol use:
More than half of full-time college students ages 18–25 reported drinking alcohol in the past month (NIAA, 2025)
29.3% reported binge drinking in the past month (NIAA, 2025)
Assaults, Victimization, and Deaths Among College-Age Youth Due to Drinking
696,000 college students ages 18–24 are assaulted each year by another student who has been drinking (NIAAA, 2025).
More than 1 in 2 college students (about 53%) report at least one type of harm caused by someone else’s drinking, including assault and threats (Trangenstein et al., 2025).
70% assaults on college campuses involve alcohol by the perpetrator, victim or both (Ekenrode, 2024)
26% of undergraduate women experience rape or sexual assault (RAINN, n.d.)
1,500 – 1800 students 18-24 die yearly from alcohol-related injuries (Webster, 2025
Summary of the consequences of binge drinking for college students:
Any binge drinking as a teen and young adult compromises and shrinks the brain. Binge drinking damages the gray matter (structure) of the brain in youth until the brain is fully developed – approximately age 24. Gray matter cannot repair itself (Infante et al., 2022). Binge drinking in youth reduces the size of the frontal lobe -involved in executive functions such as planning, decision-making, and emotion regulation, the hippocampus – involved in learning and memory, the amygdala -involved in threat detection and fear; and brain connectivity among brain areas the regulate emotions and cognition (NiAA, 2025).
- Academic: Missing class, poor academic performance
- Health: Alcohol poisoning, blackouts (leading to reputation damage and unaccounted for dangers)
- Mental Health: increased depression, anxiety, sleep issues, increased suicide risk.
- Safety: DUI, sexual assault (perpetrator and victim), fights, injuries, poor judgment, harm to others. Binge drinkers not only affect themselves but also create risk for and negatively impact students who aren’t drinking.
- Cognitive: Poor judgment, impaired critical thinking, memory, and other executive functions as well as long-term effects on the developing brain.
The Most vulnerable kids use alcohol & get addicted to alcohol
14% of full time college students meet criteria for an Alcohol Use Disorder (NIAA, 2025)
- Kids who continue using and get addicted are often those with pre-existing problems with impulse control, relationships, and managing their moods/feelings but continued excessive use can lead to addiction in anyone.
- Kids most at risk for poor outcomes are those who use or drink alone and drink to manage their feelings
Dr. Margolies’ Commentary:
When youth believe that drinking, drug use or other destructive behavior is what everyone is doing, they are more likely to do it too and less likely to push themselves to a higher standard. Parents and other adults can help them realize before college that the majority of kids are actually NOT binge drinking in college or using illicit drugs. Adults can offer another perspective pointing out that the ones who are not binge drinking are the kids who have figured out how to resist, and how they can follow their heart and engage with positive causes that stimulate them and make them feel good in a sustainable way.
Some parents try to bargain with their teenagers in high school when they warn them about the effects of alcohol on the developing adolescent brain. Trying to buy time in this way can backfire, however, because then kids feel they have “permission” to drink later and that it’s safer once they are in college. However, the brain is still developing at that time as well and there is often greater risk of danger from drinking due to unrestricted freedom and more temptation.
Parents can help their kids understand the science discussed here and in my other articles. They can think ahead with them and consider what would motivate them to resist a drinking “culture” as well as realize that not everyone is doing this and that it isn’t “normal.” What do they care about (not you)? Examples of what they may care about: being in control, protecting a friend, not embarrassing themselves, or not knowing what they said or did impacting their relationships and making them feel anxious or out of control.
What teenagers say about binge drinking:
Most youth say that all their friends drink the same way as they do when they go out. This makes having 8 shots, for example, seem “normal.”
Many high school and college students say they binge drink to have fun, even as they describe consequences that don’t sound much fun such as betraying their friend, vomiting, blackouts, hangover, hooking up when they didn’t want to, unsafe sex, etc.
Parents can ask a college age-child who is determined to keep drinking how much they need to drink to have “fun,” and whether they want to experiment to see how having fewer drinks may still be fun, without some of the consequences. Helping your young adult child come up with an effective way to set a limit is as important as the decision to set a limit so they will be capable of succeeding before they get incapacitated. For example, you can help them think through, ahead of time: what they could say to their friends. decide what the number of drinks should be, and how they might pace themselves over the course of a night.
References:
- Eckenrode, S. (2024). Sexual assault and alcohol use. EBSCO Knowledge Advantage.
- Infante, M. A., Eberson, S. C., Zhang, Y., Brumback, T., Brown, S. A., Colrain, I. M., Baker, F. C., Clark, D. B., De Bellis, M. D., Goldston, D., Nagel, B. J., Nooner, K. M., Pfefferbaum, A., Tapert, S. F., & Thompson, W. K. (2022). Adolescent binge drinking is associated with accelerated decline of gray matter volume. Cerebral Cortex, 32(XX), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab368
- Jorgensen, E. (2015, April). What’s addiction abuse, what’s not: Strategies for positive change. Treating Young Adults Conference, Boston, MA.
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2021, October). College Drinking Fact Sheet. CollegeDrinkingPrevention.gov. https://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/niaaa-college-materials/fact-sheets/college-drinking-2021
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (n.d.). Consequences. CollegeDrinkingPrevention.gov. Retrieved December 24, 2025, from https://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/statistics/consequences
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (n.d.). Prevalence. CollegeDrinkingPrevention.gov. Retrieved December 24, 2025, from https://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/statistics/prevalence
- RAINN. (n.d.). Statistics: Campus sexual violence. Retrieved December 24, 2025, from https://rainn.org/facts-statistics-the-scope-of-the-problem/statistics-campus-sexual-violence/
- Trangenstein, P. J., et al. (2025). Harms to others from drinking among college students. Addictive Behaviors Reports
- Webster, A. (2025, March 17). College binge drinking & alcohol abuse: Risks & impacts. American Addiction Centers. https://americanaddictioncenters.org/alcohol/rehab-treatment/how-alcohol-affects-college-students
Resources to consider:
- National Institute on Drug Abuse
- CRAFFT Screening for Alcohol Abuse
- SAMHSA
- Recovery Campus Movement
- Sober Housing at college
- AA, NA, Marijuana Anonymous, SMART Recovery, Celebrate Recovery, Women in Recovery
- Alcohol Resources in Tools, Helpful Websites, and Dr. M’s articles including:
