Table 3.3 provides more detail for the total two-year sample, and it shows that 4.7 percent of the students consumed 16 or more drinks per week, on average. In most of the research literature on alcohol use, binge drinking is operationally defined as the consumption of five or more drinks in one sitting. Table 3.4 reports the number of binge drinking episodes by students in the two weeks prior to survey administration. Note that 3.5 percent of the students reported more than five binges in the last two weeks. This means a minimum of 30 drinks per two weeks per student solely from bingeing, and in all likelihood there is greater alcohol consumption than that.
Many times averages hide important differences between groups.
This is true with respect to binge drinking and gender, and this has important ramifications for counseling and prevention programming. Table 3.4 illustrates this in more detail. There is significant national concern over the use and consequences of drugs in our society. Cocaine, sedatives, hallucinogens, and amphetamines were used by small percentages of students but the actual number of students is not negligible when extrapolated to the two-year college student population. Table 3.6 summarizes the annual prevalence of the six most frequently used drugs.