Under the influence

If you have ever thought about skipping class or a huge assignment for a game of beer pong, you’re not alone. The IU Facebook network has more than 130 groups dedicated to the game. The largest, Beer Pong Indiana Chapter, has more than 1,100 members.\nA recent study led by researchers at Loyola Marymount University indicates that both male and female college students participate in drinking games regularly, and that participation in drinking games leads to increased consumption of alcohol.\n“While previous research indicates that women play drinking games at lower frequencies than men ... women may be playing games at rates similar to college men,” according to the study. \nThe researchers worked with a sample of 105 college men and women during a three-month period. While playing drinking games, men binge-drank 94 percent of the time, averaging 7.95 drinks, and women binge-drank 87 percent of the time, averaging 6.29 drinks.\nThe study defined binge-drinking as “four drinks in a row” for women and “five drinks in a row” for men.\n“Game playing is associated with a wide range of alcohol-related problems,” according to the study. “These range from personal problems such as missing a class or having a hangover, to legal problems, such as driving under the influence or being in trouble with authorities. The goal of intoxicating others during games can lead to negative consequences as well, including date rape.”\nStill, such consequences do not seem to deter students from playing drinking games.\n“Most people who drink play drinking games,” freshman Rita Troyer said. “Because that’s the atmosphere at the parties. I try not to get drunk to the point where I black out, but I end up drinking a lot more when I am playing a drinking game.”\nTroyer said she has friends who often miss classes because they are too drunk the night before. This is especially the case with Friday morning classes.\n“But I only party on the weekends because school is my top priority,” she said. “I have never missed a class because of drinking. I have, however, woken up the next morning to regret events of the night before.”\nQuick to catch the trend, even local businesses are seeing students wanting to play drinking games. Jake’s Nightclub recently organized a beer pong tournament for Wednesday that will benefit Hurricane Katrina relief.\nStill, officials point out the dangers that might be associated with binge drinking as result of drinking games. Alcohol-related incidents in which the police have been called have changed little over time, said IU Police Department Capt. Jerry Minger, but for many, their drink of choice has changed.\n“The only difference has been the consumption of beverages with higher concentrations of alcohol,” Minger said. “In the past, people would have gone to social functions and drank a lot of beer; now it seems people are drinking more of beverages such as rum, whiskey and vodka. They don’t rationally stop in time. In fact, their alcohol concentration is still going up when they are unconscious.”\nThe same dosage of alcohol has a greater impact on women than men, said Sean O’Connor, professor of psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine and scientific co-director for the Indiana Alcohol Research Center.\n“Women, on an average, are smaller than men,” O’Connor said. “Therefore, the volume of alcohol that water gets diluted in, which is the total body water, is smaller in women than in men. If men and women have the same dose of alcohol, women will have a higher concentration of alcohol in their body.” \nSome male students have different perceptions of women’s behavior when they’re intoxicated.\n“It’s like this,” said freshman Craig Sanford, “when a girl gets really drunk, she gets really horny and so she makes decisions she wouldn’t make otherwise. If girls remember what happened the night before, they usually regret it.”\nThere is a safety hazard to anyone who drinks, particularly to a state where they become unconscious, Minger said.\n“In the last two sexual assaults that we have had reported to us, the victim was so inebriated that she really did not know whether or not she was sexually assaulted, because she kept passing in and out of consciousness,” he said. “When you are so unconscious that you cannot remember what happened in the last 12 hours, that is definitely a safety hazard.”\nMost women said they feel equally safe whether they are sober or intoxicated.\n“I don’t like the taste of alcohol, but I like to get drunk. So it’s nice how drinking games speed up the process,” said freshman Rachel Factor. “I have never had any legal trouble for drinking, but I have missed classes. I actually showed up to a Friday morning class drunk from the night before. But, I never regret anything.”