Popular perception portrays students moving from party to party in an alcohol-induced fog. Media depicts alcohol abuse, often humorously, as a collegiate norm.
Family folklore retells blowout college parties from the past.
Graduation cards, advertisements, mugs, and t-shirt slogans perpetuate the association between heavy drinking and the collegiate experience. Sensational stories are noted and remembered, while more typical stories remain untold. Party night annals make no mention of students who spent the evening studying or working a second part-time job. Certainly, don't hold your breath for special reports about the full one-third of American college students who choose to abstain. The resounding silence about that story may be part of the reason that college students perceive that only about two percent of college students choose not to consume alcohol, an underestimation making it harder to abstain for those choosing that path.