With all of the other problems college students are being confronted with these days associated with an erratic economy and rising costs, risk of sexual assaults of women is an added problem. In the best interest of securing their own welfare Syracuse college women should be advised that a new study shows that binge drinking by college freshman women is associated with increased sexual assault risk.
A press release from the University of Buffalo says "Binge Drinking by College Freshman Women Tied to Sexual Assault Risk, According to New Research." According to a University at Buffalo-led study women who take up binge drinking in college may be at relatively high risk of sexual assault. This study has been published the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
The college years are well known to be associated with drinking. In this study 437 young women were followed from the time of high school graduation through their freshman year of college. It was found that of women who had never drank heavily in high school, if at all, nearly half admitted to heavy episodic drinking, which is commonly called binge drinking, at least once by the end of their first college semester. And young women who were already engaging in binge drinking in high school were found to continue drinking at similar levels in college.
Furthermore, binge drinking was linked to students' risk of sexual victimization, regardless of what their drinking habits were in high school. Of all young women followed whose biggest binge had included four to six drinks, one quarter of them said they'd been sexually victimized in the fall semester. It was also found the more alcohol those binges involved, the greater the likelihood of sexual assault. 59 percent of the women who'd ever consumed 10 or more drinks in a sitting were sexually victimized by the end of their first semester.
Lead researcher Maria Testa, a senior scientist at UB's Research Institute on Addictions, has said "This suggests that drinking-prevention efforts should begin before college." Testa takes the position that parenting is not over when kids go off to college and that parent should raise the issue of drinking with their kids before they go to college. Testa is right on target. Young women must try to protect themselves from the serious health and emotional problems which can be associated with being sexual assault victims by not drinking. When a women let's her guard down by getting drunk it appears a lot of sexual predators are waiting to attack.
Photographer: photostock
