Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Shorter Weekend Means Less Drinking


Friday morning classes can prevent Thursday night binge drinking at colleges and universities, a study from the University of Missouri says. The results of this research has some college campuses offering more Friday morning classes.

Students with the opportunity to sleep in on Friday tend to drink (on average) just over one additional drink on Thursday night than students who have a class before 10a.m. Friday.

The study is published in the July issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, and will be on reserve at Logue Library in early October. Search the "Education Research" databases in EBSCOhost and Newsbank's major US newspapers using keywords college students AND drinking AND friday.

An earlier study of New Zealand Students showed similar results, but emphasized that students with heavier drinking habits simply avoid scheduling Friday classes.* Some schools are encouraged by the current research to offer more Friday morning required courses to make heavier drinking habits less convenient.

This article from the Columbia Tribune in Columbia, Missouri, home of the University of Missouri, is free on the web here:
Drinking study prompts change, but not at MU
By JONATHON BRADEN of the Tribune’s staff
Published Monday, September 24, 2007

*Friday Class and Heavy Alcohol Use in a Sample of New Zealand College Students. By: Paschall, Mallie J.; Kypri, Kypros; Saltz, Robert F.. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Sep2006, Vol. 67 Issue 5, p764-769.