For the study, 778 undergraduates at OSU were interviewed. Of that number, 40 percent were classified as heavy drinkers. The remainder said they drank heavily on three or more occasions.

Based on their drinking behavior, the students were placed in one of four categories: Precontemplation -- students who drink heavily and have no intention of changing their drinking behavior; Contemplation -- students who drink heavily, but consider changing their drinking behavior; Action -- students who have stopped a pattern of heavy drinking, but there's no indication that the change will last; and Maintenance -- those who used to drink heavily but have not done so for at least six months.

Of the students surveyed, nine percent fell into the maintenance stage; 14 percent in the action category; 12 percent in the contemplation stage; and 64 percent in the precontemplation phase.

"It would seem logical that the students who decided to quit drinking heavily would also find the behavior more inappropriate. That wasn't the case here," said Kenneth Steinman, author of the study and an assistant professor of health behavior and health promotion at OSU's School of Public Health. "Although most of the heavy drinkers had no intention of ceasing their habit, stopping such excessive drinking while in college isn't that unusual."

He added, "If we can figure out why a third of the students had either stopped or at least given thought to stopping heavy drinking, it might give us some real insight for creating more effective programs to decrease excessive alcohol use."

The study is published in the March 2003 issue of the Journal of American College Health.

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