College Women Outdo Men in Binge Drinking For The First Time Ever

A century ago, men out-drank women by three to one. But that’s not the case anymore, as The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) found that college women binge drink more than men for the first time in history. 

NIAAA’s director Dr. George Koop said in an interview that American women are boozing harder than their male counterparts – a phenomenon never seen before. 11.8% of female uni students reported binge drinking in the last month, 1.4% more than men.

Dr. Koop told Washington Examiner there had been an uptick in alcohol consumption last year, particularly among women.  

“Now it turns out on college campuses women are actually binge drinking more than men, for the first time in history.”

Biden’s alcohol czar blames the post-pandemic return of bottomless brunches, happy hours, and after-work cocktails for the shift. In what he calls an “alcohol deprivation effect,” people now tend to rebound in drinking after a long period of abstinence. 

Amid TikTok trends like ‘blackout rage gallon’ drinks and this year’ imminent spring break, Dr. Koob warns people to practice mindful drinking. 

“We are a little concerned that this spring and spring break is going to be a return to a good amount of binge drinking. I just want to caution everyone that when you start hitting the binge drinking level you start doing really bad things to your body.”

For women, binge drinking is when they consume four drinks more in the same night. For men, it is five drinks or more. 

Although binge drinking has been plummeting across US universities in recent years, alcohol consumption among students is steadily falling. At the turn of the century, 38% of college women and 48% men were binge drinking. According to NIAAA, only 40% of students were binge drinkers in 2015.