The college environment plays a key role in student binge drinking, researchers say, with bingeing rates higher at schools that have a strong drinking culture, few alcohol-control policies, weak enforcement, and easy access to alcohol.

Science Daily reported July 11 that the conclusions from the Harvard School of Public Health's College Alcohol Study were based on surveys of more than 50,000 students at 120 schools.

"Binge drinking among college students varies widely from college to college," said Toben Nelson of the University of Minnesota, assistant director of the study. "At some colleges almost no students binge drink, while at others nearly four in every five students do. Interestingly, we found that the levels of binge drinking, and the problems related to it, remain very stable at the same colleges over time ... That suggests there is something about certain college environments that promote binge drinking,"

Researchers found that schools that emphasize intercollegiate athletics and Greek life had higher levels of binge drinking, while there were fewer drinkers at schools that ban alcohol on campus and offer substance-free dorms.

"A 'wet' college environment, one that has many stores where students can buy alcohol, and may be influenced to do so by heavy marketing, low prices and special promotions, creates the conditions for heavy drinking," said study director Henry Wechsler of Harvard. "If colleges can change those conditions, they can reduce binge drinking among their students."

The study was published in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.