Promoting Substance Abuse Awareness for College Aged Students

The prevalence of alcohol abuse in college students is on the decline. Binge drinking has dropped from 45% in 2005 to 37% in 2014 (Hingson, Zha, & Smyth, 2017). In West Virginia, Cabell County is ranked 15th in binge drinking with 10.9% of the population reporting having consumed more than five drinks on the same occasion in the past month (West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, 2016). When it comes to college students, 12.5% of students reported heavy alcohol use in 2015 (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2015), and 20% met the criteria for Alcohol Use Disorder (i.e., a problematic pattern of alcohol use leading to clinically significant impairment or stress; American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Blanco et al., 2008). Furthermore, 25% of students report academic consequences from drinking including, missing class, falling behind on school work, and poor grades (St. Lawrence University, 2018). With these statistics in mind, this project seeks to provide accurate and comprehensive substance abuse education to college students. To combat high rates of substance abuse among these students, we plan to give presentations to various student groups at Marshall University. Specifically, we plan to target students living in the dorms, athletes, and fraternities and sororities. We seek to inform students of risk factors associated with substance abuse, what signs to look out for in themselves or others, and programs that are available to help them both on and off-campus