Abroad

Students more likely to drink excessively while abroad, study finds

Margaret Lin | Senior Staff Photographer

Some Syracuse Abroad officials claim that being abroad is not the cause of students being more likely to drink excessively while abroad.

By Kennedy Rose

American students feel more inclined to excessively drink when studying abroad, a recent survey from On Call International has found.

Fifty percent of respondents said they consumed more alcohol when abroad and 11 percent said they’ve “blacked out” more often while abroad than they did when at home in the United States. The study defines “blacking out” as binge drinking “to the point of memory impairment.”

The survey attributes this excessive drinking to the leniency of alcohol consumption laws in other countries. But Syracuse University Abroad staff members as well as a student who has studied abroad claim that being abroad is not the cause.

“I think the fact that the United States’ drinking age is 21 means almost nothing to college students,” said Jenn Horvath, manager of marketing and communications at SU Abroad. She added that American college culture encourages drinking, whether the drinking age makes it legal for students to drink or not.

To prevent excessive drinking while abroad, the SU Abroad program maintains “an ongoing conversation” about the dangers of excessive drinking with students and contextualizes it in the setting of the country the students are traveling to, Horvath said.



Bridget Hughes, case manager at SU Abroad, prepares students before sending them to a different country. Since excessive drinking isn’t accepted in other countries, Hughes said the SU Abroad program does pre-departure preparation with students in terms of what is acceptable in the country they’re traveling to and what isn’t.

“I wouldn’t say (excessive drinking is) a problem for students who go abroad specifically,” Hughes said. “I think it’s across the board among all college students. That’s what they engage in when they’re on a college campus.

Hughes said the SU Abroad program heavily focuses on responsibility within the context of the country.

“We don’t expect you to not enjoy a glass of wine with your host family, because that’s the culture (there),” Hughes said. “But we do expect you to not act like the binge-drinking, U.S., stereotypical college kid on a study abroad program.”





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