As a result of someone else's drinking, two thirds of male students and over

half (55%) of female students reported that they had experienced at least

one harm. The most often cited consequences experienced among male

students were; verbal abuse (37%), passenger with a driver who had taken

alcohol (22%), arguments with friends and family about drinking (20%),

property vandalised (19%), physically assaulted (18%) and relationship

difficulties (13%). For female students, the most common adverse

consequences, as a result of someone else's drinking were; verbal abuse

(25%), arguments with friends (21%), relationship difficulties (16%),

passenger with a driver who had taken alcohol (15%) and had property

vandalised (8%). Sexual assault rate, although very low, was twice the rate

among first year female students (2.4%) in comparison to second (1.2%) or

third year students (0.8%).

Figure 16: Experiences of harm as a result of someone else's drinking

across year in college.

35

33

31

30

25

25

20

(%)

15

14 14

12

12

10 

10

7

8

5

5

5

0

Verbal abuse

Physical assault

Unprotected sex

Property damaged

1st yr 

2nd yr 

3rd yr plus

Four of the harms experienced as a result of someone else's drinking were

significantly different across year in college (Figure 16).  A higher proportion

of first and second year students experienced verbal abuse, physical assault,

unprotected sex and property damage in comparison to third year students.

4.10  Profile of Students with High Risk Drinking Patterns

High risk drinking are patterns of drinking that are likely to increase the risk

of harm for the drinker and for others.  Binge drinking is a term used to

describe a single occasion of excessive drinking, defined as drinking at least

75 grams of pure alcohol per occasion (at least 4 pints of beer or a bottle of

wine or equivalent). This pattern of high risk drinking was the norm among

college students in this study, where out of every 100 drinking occasions, 76

were binge drinking occasions for male students and 60 for female students.  

43