The Social Construction of "Binge Drinking"

The Anatomy of an Epidemic

Introduction to PowerPoint Slide Show

Epidemiological evidence presented in this and earlier units generally shows that alcohol use has steadily declined among teenagers and college students over the past few decades. For instance, the Monitoring the Future data show that the monthly prevalence of alcohol use among high-school seniors dropped from over 70 percent in the late 1970s to approximately 45 percent in 2006. Similarly, we saw in this section that heavy drinking has declined markedly among adolescents from alll race/ethnic groups since the late 1970s. Comparisons with Europe in the ESPAD data indicate that American adolescents rank near the bottom among Western societies in rates of alcohol use and episodes of heavy drinking. Thus, from an objectivist standpoint, the social problem of heavy, episodic alcohol use is far less serious in the U.S. than at any time in recent history.

And, yet, starting in the mid-1990s, there has been a dramatic increase in media coverage and public concern about the problem of "binge drinking" among American high school and college students. Headlines in newspapers and on television newscasts portrayed this condition as a growing epidemic and proclaimed that nearly half of college students were "binge drinkers." Educational institutions, charitable foundations, and governmental agencies responded to this crisis with new funding for programs and policies to combat the problem on campuses and elsewhere. Clearly, this problem deserves attention from a constructionist perspective, which might shed light on the circumstances and claimsmaking activities that gave rise to an "epidemic" during a period of decline in drinking behavior. The following graphic is linked to a brief PowerPoint slide show that examines the social construction of the problem of "binge drinking."