Student Perceptions of Campus Alcohol and Drug Use
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Students tend to perceive that alcohol and other drug use by their peers is much higher than actual usage. |
Examination of the data reveals a significant difference between the reported actual student use and the perceptions that students held about the alcohol and drug use of their peers.
Prevention and intervention strategies have been developed and implemented by UNC Student Health Service to highlight this difference and to provide students with accurate information. Our goal in providing this information is to reach the student who is using alcohol and other drugs for social reasons and whose use pattern is dictated by social perceptions. We encounter many students who would rather not engage in substance use but do so only to achieve social connections. Key findings about student attitude and perception are as follows:
- 45% of students believe that the average student on campus uses some form of illegal drug at least once a week, while only 17% of students reported using marijuana within the last thirty days and 5.4% of students reported using illegal drugs within the last thirty days.
- 94% of students believe that the average student on campus uses alcohol once a week or more. Almost half (41.9%) of students reported the average number of drinks they consumed in a week to be 0.
- 30% of students indicated that they would prefer not to have alcohol available at parties they attend.
- 84% of students indicated that they would prefer not to have drugs available at parties they attend.
- 88% of the respondents saw drinking as central in the social life of male students, 77% in the social life of female students.
- 96% of the respondents saw drinking as central in the social life of fraternities, 91% in the social life of sororities.
- 84% of students said that they believed the social atmosphere on campus promotes alcohol use, 33% said that it promotes drug use.
- 96% of students know the campus has an alcohol and drug policy, 39% of students knew the campus had an alcohol and drug prevention program, and 73% of students believe the campus is concerned about alcohol and drug use prevention.
| Q: Which one of these students doesn't drink?
A: All of them. |
UNC Student Health Services
Substance Abuse Education
(919) 966-6586
Matt Sullivan is the Coordinator of Substance Abuse Programs at UNC Student Health.
