For my topic, I chose to investigate how drinking alcohol correlates to academic performance, and GPA. I believe that the more a college student drinks, the lower their GPA will be. I read the article Assessing Drinking and Academic Performance Among a Nationally Representative Sample of College Students, written by Anna K. Piazza-Gardner, Adam E. Barry, and Ashley L. Merianos. I also interviewed two college students about their alcohol consumption habits, and how they do academically. Overall the results tended to be the same for my study as it was for the study I researched.
This investigation studied whether consuming alcohol has a negative effect on a student’s grade point average(GPA). The study shows a clear link between alcohol abuse, mental and academic performance. The study’s data illustrates a strong inverse correlation between grade-point average and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
The article starts in telling how alcohol abuse is a huge problem in today’s society, especially among college students, “with students maintaining high levels of current use and heavy episodic drinking. There were 27,774 undergraduate students from 44 different colleges across the United States that were studied.
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Majority of the participants were white females, and first-year undergraduates. “Most students (60%) had used alcohol within the past month, with a mean of 3.26 drinks the last time they partied/socialized. Thirty-two percent of participants engaged in heavy episodic drinking within the past two weeks.” This study was to see if there was a negative correlation between drinking and a student’s GPA, and the results were that yes, there is in fact an inverse relationship between the amount of alcohol consumed and a student’s GPA.
Throughout my studies, I noted all the other consequences alcohol abuse can have on a person’s body. Consuming more than moderate drinking-1 drink per day for women and up to 2 drinks per day for men- can cause damage to the brain, heart, liver, and pancreas. It increases the risks of certain cancers, and weakens the immune system, making people more prone to infection. Not to mention there are additional risks for people under 21. Underage drinking plays a big role in risky sexual behavior, including unwanted, unintended, and unprotected sexual activity, and sex with multiple partners.
Such behavior increases the risk for unplanned pregnancy and for contracting STDs. Underage drinking can also be associated with physical/sexual assault, drug use, tobacco use, and alcohol poisoning. Additionally underage drinking can also cause alterations in the structure and function of the developing brain, which continues to mature into the mid- to late twenties, and may have consequences reaching far beyond adolescence.
After researching this study, I wanted to see if I would have the same findings. I interviewed two students at the University of Tampa: Margan and Marisa. I asked each of them if they would be interested in participating in an alcohol related survey, and I assured them it was strictly for my research. Margan is my friends sister, she’s in her freshman year of college, and is 18 years old. and I met Marisa in line at starbucks, she is in her sophomore year, and is 20 years old. I started by asking them how often a week they drink. Margan said she drinks about 4 times a week, having about 5 drinks a night, and Marisa said she drinks every few weeks, having about 3 drinks.
In one study, students with 4.0 GPAs drank a third fewer alcoholic beverages compared to those with GPAs under 2.0. Throughout interviewing them I found out that Marisa holds a 3.2 GPA, whereas Margan has a 2.8 GPA. “Drinking makes me feel like fucking shit, and just really hungover. I just never want to leave bed after a night of partying. I like having fun, that’s just not really my idea of it” says Marisa.
Marisa likes going to the beach with her friends, and reading books in her free time, but she prioritizes school. “I feel like nothing good ever comes out of drinking” Marisa states, and she’s right. Alcohol limits cognitive functioning, alters anger levels, balance, speech and thinking abilities. Teenagers who engage in underage drinking are more likely to make bad decisions, spend money unwisely or become violent and extremely aggressive with those surrounding them. Some of the unstable teenagers even turn to suicide by alcohol attempts.
Even though Margan drinks quite frequently, she says that she definitely thinks drinking affects her grades; “I definitely think drinking a lot can cause a lower GPA, last semester I drank on school nights a lot, and I would just skip class the next day because I couldn’t crawl out of bed”. Getting intoxicated can have a negative impact on cognitive functions (concentration, memory, attention) for 48 hours.
This means that if you get intoxicated on the last Friday of classes, your ability to study for finals on both Saturday and Sunday will be impaired; this in turn could have a negative impact on your ability to perform during your Monday exams. “You know what a hangovers like,” Margan states, “you’re throwing up all night, feel like your sweating out alcohol, and you have a pounding headache.” Hangovers can include: nausea, vomiting, sweating, thirst, drowsiness, fatigue, sensitivity to light/sound, headache, dizziness, spike in heart rate/blood pressure, etc.
According to The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, 41% of college students experience academic problems and 28% drop out of school due to alcohol-related negative consequences. It has also been found that 20% of college students experienced poor academic performance and 30% missed class as a result of alcohol consumption. It can be inferred that because of alcohol students don’t just get lower GPA’s, a lot of students even fail out of school.
Although I only interviewed two people, I got to see similarities between the study, and people who go to my school. It seems quite obvious that drinking alcohol regularly can cause a lower GPA. Although the data doesn’t allow us to make cause-and-effect statements it’s clear that those who report greater levels of alcohol abuse, do not perform as well academically. When Marisa was asked if she thought there is a relationship between alcohol consumption and a lower GPA, she stated “I feel like it’s kind of obvious that they’re related. The kids who are always out getting fucked up are the ones that do shitty in school, half of the time they don’t even show up for class.” Alcohol abuse can cause students to skip class, miss deadlines, fail tests, etc.
Based on the results of both studies; I concluded it would be beneficial for consumers of alcohol to stop/cut down on their alcohol consumption if they are worried about their academic progress. Whether or not you choose to drink in college you should be aware that there are detrimental effects to your academic success. There are many other factors that could lead a student to have a lower GPA separate from or in addition to consuming alcohol but these studies definitely show a correlation with alcohol consumption.
Overall, I think it can be proven that the more alcohol a student consumes, the worse they will do academically. Alcohol abuse causes students academic performance to drastically get worse, “alcohol-induced blackouts experienced by college students were associated with lower GPAs, and that abstaining from drinking was related to higher GPAs among college students.”
Alcohol consumption by underage college students is commonplace, although it varies from campus to campus and from person to person. Indeed, many college students, as well as some parents and administrators, accept alcohol use as a normal part of student life. Studies consistently indicate that about 80 percent of college students drink alcohol, about 40 percent engage in binge drinking, and about 20 percent engage in frequent episodic heavy consumption, which is bingeing three or more times over the past 2 weeks. The negative consequences of alcohol use on college campuses are particularly serious and pervasive. In order for students to maintain high GPAs, they need to cut down on the amount of alcohol they consume.
