UB's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) has been conducting ongoing research, which illustrates the link between drinking and the increased occurrence of physical and sexual victimization. In 2004, the RIA administered Web-based surveys to 870 female freshmen. These confidential surveys allowed researchers to pinpoint the link, according to Kathleen A. Parks, Ph.D., principal investigator on the study.
Twenty-two percent of the students surveyed said they experienced some form of victimization, Parks said. Thirteen percent stated they experienced severe physical victimization and 38 percent experienced severe sexual victimization. In all, one in five women at UB experienced some form of victimization either physical or sexual during their freshman year.
This is the first study that looked specifically at the changes in the drinking patterns of women during their transition from high school to college. Parks stated that many of the changes in individuals' drinking patterns are a direct result of the move away from home.
"A lot of them are transitioning from living at home and being under parental supervision all the time to living alone in the dorms. Seventy-five percent of our freshmen were living in the dorms - they no longer have mom and dad supervising them 24/7," Parks said.
The study also found that there are different levels of risk associated with new drinkers and experienced drinkers.
"The women who didn't drink in high school and started to drink in college were at increased risk for physical victimization," Parks said. "Women who continued to drink from the year before college to that first year of college, that increased their drinking, were at increased risk of sexual victimization."
Experienced drinkers have more negative consequences as a result of their drinking. The study shows that, on average, new drinkers report around one negative consequence with drinking. Experienced drinkers reported up to around five different negative consequences.
Parks stated that she does not condone underage drinking, yet she also said that she understands the reality that it would be tough to change the culture around drinking and partying.
To promote safety, Park suggests that if females are to drink they should stay with friends in a social environment. The number one precaution against physical and sexual victimization would be to completely abstain from drinking, Parks said.
