Research on Substance Abuse and Binge Drinking Among College Students

This research paper investigates the prevalence and underlying causes of substance abuse and binge drinking among college students. The study explores the transition to college life as a catalyst for these behaviors, highlighting increased independence and peer pressure as contributing factors. The paper delves into the rising rates of drug and alcohol abuse on campuses, aiming to identify the reasons behind this trend. The methodology involves a descriptive research design utilizing a survey of Canadian college students aged 18-27, analyzed quantitatively. The research acknowledges limitations in terms of time and financial constraints. The expected outcome is to gain insights into the factors driving substance abuse and binge drinking, including the easy accessibility of drugs and the normalization of party culture, ultimately aiming to understand the scope of the issue and its impacts.

Running Head: SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND COLLEGE STUDENT BINGE DRINKING
Substance Abuse and College Student Binge Drinking
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Broad Topic...................................................................................................................2
1.0 Purpose of the Current Study............................................................................................2
1.1Research Problem...................................................................................................................2
1.2Participants.............................................................................................................................2
1.3 Setting....................................................................................................................................3
1.4 Dependent Variable & Independent Variable........................................................................3
Chapter 2: Previous Research on the Topic.....................................................................................3
Chapter 3: Method...........................................................................................................................4
2.0 Limitations of the Research..............................................................................................4
2.1Expected Outcome..................................................................................................................4
Reference.........................................................................................................................................5

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Chapter 1: Broad Topic
College is the time when the young adults finally transition into adults, many students g
start living independently. These students are responsible for their behavioral changes and the
habits that they develop. There are reports that show that college students aged between 18-22
years starts to engage in binge drinking and many use illicit drugs (White & Hingson, 2013).
These students do these as a part of the campus enjoyment and some do it in peer pressure. These
not only have a negative impact on the minds of the people but also harm their education as they
get deviated into doing things such drugs and alcohol; their focus from their education gets
diverged. This research deals with the issue off college drinking and drug use (McCabe at al.,
2014).
1.0 Purpose of the Current Study
The purpose of this study is to find out the reasons why drug addiction and binge drinking
are so common among the college students and the risen why the rates of drinking and drug
abuse are constantly increasing.
1.1Research Problem
The research will focus on the college students who are addicted to drugs and alcohol;
these have been very common among then students who first go to college and get a taste of this
freedom. The problem lies in the fact the number of students getting addicted to drugs and
alcohol are increasing every year and this research will be done to find out the reason behind this
increase and why at all students resort to drugs and alcohol once they enter college.

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1.2Participants
The study will be done by conducting a survey among the college students of Canada and
the age group of the participant will be 18-27 years. The study is about the college students that
are addicted to drugs and alcohols and hence the participants will naturally be the college
students.
1.3 Setting
The setting for this study will be the college campuses as the survey will be done among
the college students of Canada. These students will be answering the questions based on the
survey prepared by the researcher. The students will not be pressurized into giving any details
that they do not want to.
1.4 Dependent Variable & Independent Variable
The dependent variables in this research are the students and the independent variables in
this study are the drugs and the alcohol that are used by the student. The drugs and the alcohol
are the independent variable because in this study the students are dependent on the drugs and
the alcohol and not the other way round.
Chapter 2: Previous Research on the Topic
For most going to college is their first brush with independence. College brings a new
found independence which most of the students cannot handle, they often think being
independent equals to being able to drink alone or get high on some drug whose name they have
never heard (Dart et al., 2015). With the freedom that they get them often think that they will
explore the new possibilities that life has to offer, drinking and drugs are not necessarily the

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answer but the students often equate freedom with drinking and drugs. This is where the problem
occurs, the students do not know their limits and hence some of them become addicts and they
completely deviate away from their path (Ford & Blumenstein, 2013). The students get used this
culture of party, drugs and drinking. The problem lies in the fact that there are greater accesses to
drugs in the college campuses than they had previously. Their desire to drink is one thing but
getting the drugs in an easy manner also harms the college students as it is easy for them to do
whatever they like and whenever they feel like.
Chapter 3: Method
The research will be done using the philosophy of positivism, which means that the
research will be done in a scientific manner. The design of the research will be descriptive and
this covers large amount of data. The data collected for this research will be primary as the
college students will be interviewed for this research (Savin-Baden & Major, 2013). The data
collected will be analyzed in a quantitative manner and then will be represented
diagrammatically (Creswell & Poth, 2017). The approach of the research will be deductive as no
new theories will be developed from this research.
2.0 Limitations of the Research
The major limitations of the research are the constraint that was faced monetarily and the
time that was taken to do the research.
2.1Expected Outcome
From this study it can be expected that the researcher will know the reason why drinking
and drug abuse is such a rampant phenomenon in the college campuses and also the reason why
it is growing at a massive rate.

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Reference
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing
among five approaches. Sage publications.
Dart, R. C., Surratt, H. L., Cicero, T. J., Parrino, M. W., Severtson, S. G., Bucher-Bartelson,
B., & Green, J. L. (2015). Trends in opioid analgesic abuse and mortality in the United
States. New England Journal of Medicine, 372(3), 241-248.
Ford, J. A., & Blumenstein, L. (2013). Self-control and substance use among college
students. Journal of drug issues, 43(1), 56-68.
McCabe, S. E., West, B. T., Teter, C. J., & Boyd, C. J. (2014). Trends in medical use,
diversion, and nonmedical use of prescription medications among college students from
2003 to 2013: Connecting the dots. Addictive behaviors, 39(7), 1176-1182.
Savin-Baden, M., & Major, C. H. (2013). Qualititaive Research: The Essential Guide to
Theory and Practice. Qualitative Research: The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice.
Routledge.
White, A., & Hingson, R. (2013). The burden of alcohol use: excessive alcohol consumption
and related consequences among college students. Alcohol research: current reviews.