College Students Aren't Binge Drinking As Much, Report Says

There's good news and bad news when it comes to young adults and binge drinking, according to a new study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. The good news? Young people (ages 18 to 24) in college aren't binge drinking as much as they used to. The bad news? Young people in that age group not in college are binge drinking more.

Overall, alcohol-related overdose hospitalizations and deaths rose among 18 to 24-year-olds.

To break it down further: College students who reported binge drinking – defined for this study as five or more drinks at one time in the last 30 days – declined from 45 percent in 2005 to 37 percent in 2014. It had previously ticked up from 42 percent to 45 percent between 1999 and 2005.

Among non-college students, binge drinking increased by 4 percentage points between 1999 and 2014, from 36 percent to 40 percent.

Why the decline? Study author Ralph Hingson thinks it could have to do with college administrators working on interventions to curb troublesome drinking, he said in statement. The same can't be said for those not in college.

"Among young adults who aren't in college, there aren't the same organizational supports to implement interventions, and that may be contributing to why binge drinking is increasing in that group," Hingson said.

Other reasons might be the 2008 economic recession (i.e. not as much disposable income) and the lowered .08 percent blood alcohol concentration legal limit that took effect for drivers in every state by 2005.

The study's research started in 1998 following the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism decision to start a task force looking at college drinking and how to fix the problems associated with it, Hingson said. The task force made its first report in 2002.

This updated report comes several months after a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report revealed 1 in 6 high school students were binge drinkers, even though drinking has declined for this age group over the years (from 50.8 percent in 1991 to 32.8 percent in 2015). Still, 57.8 percent of these teens were binge drinkers.