MADD Teen Influencer
October 2025
by Ben Haworth, MADD Teen Influencer Drinking in College: A first-year’s survival guide
2
Freshman year is an exciting, yet vulnerable time in a young person’s life. A combination of contributing factors, such as being away from home for the first time, experiencing newfound autonomy, and social influences among peers, can cause drinking freshman year to go hand in hand. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Here is a story that highlights the importance of teen driver safety.
Alcoholism, the first six weeks of a student's first year in college are a vulnerable time for harmful and underage drinking and alcohol-related consequences because of student expectations and social pressures at the start of the academic year. As a first-year student myself and living over three thousand miles from home, I have entered into my freshman year, hitting the ground running. Each day is a nonstop whirlwind of classes, study sessions, club meetings, and, of course, weekend football games. It seems more often than not, alcohol is involved in many of these weekend activities, making it more of
an expectation that one will partake as part of the social norms on campus. Having been involved with MADD as a Teen Influencer since my freshman year of high school, I am not surprised by the normalizing of underage drinking, but I was surprised that many of my new friends actually chose not to drink. Was this the new normal on my particular campus? Or were young people entering college not disillusioned by the old “Animal House” days and not interested in partying? Since I am more of an academic and
take my school work seriously, drinking into the wee hours of the morning never appealed to me. Is the culture of nursing a hangover on the way to an 8 am class on the way out? After doing a little research, I found that there is, in fact, surprising information about the current state of drinking in college. Overall alcohol use: According to a recent survey by Gallup News, annual alcohol use in college students has decreased by nearly 15% since 1980.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online