May 9, 2014
In October 2013, HamPoll, Hamilton’s official survey group, released a survey to the student body asking them about their drinking habits to better understand the drinking culture on campus. The results of the survey are both surprising and expected.
When asked, “On average, how many days a week do you drink?” 80 percent of students responded that they drink at least once a week. Further analysis showed that juniors and seniors respectively were 28 percent and 24 percent more likely to drink than first-years, respectively.
Interestingly, no difference exists between gender or between disciplines in concluding whether or not a student drinks; however, living on the dark side of campus made a student about 8 percent less likely to drink than people who live on the light side (buildings north of College Hill Road except Wertimer House, Skenandoa House and Griffin Road). This may be attributable, however, to the presence of many students living in Root Hall in the sample.
When analyzing what factors influence students drinking on more days a week than others, some more interesting results appear. Females are more likely to drink zero or one day a week than males, but the opposite holds true for drinking two to seven days a week. Upperclassmen are also less likely to drink only zero or one day a week than first-years, and more likely than first-years to drink two to seven days a week. No differences across location, discipline or ethnicity were noted.
Another interesting piece of data is how quickly first-years adopt to Hamilton’s drinking habits. All respondents were asked, “Did you drink before coming to college?” and 60 percent responded that they did. In the Class of 2017, 61 percent responded that they drank before coming to college.
By the time of this survey, however, only 65 percent of the Class of 2017 drank at least once a week, suggesting that the transition to Hamilton’s drinking habits takes at least a semester.
A majority of students who drink also pregame, with 90 percent of drinking students (66 percent of the total sample) responding that they pregame at least once a week. Additionally, 40 percent of drinking students start drinking around 8 p.m., and 37 percent of drinking students start drinking around 9 p.m., which has implications on the College’s programming. When asked what drink they preferred, a plurality of students responded with beer or vodka.
This data helps provide significant information about the drinking culture on campus. The most notable result is that most students already drink before they come to Hamilton, though that number does increase over time.
Additionally, drinking tends to start in the early evening, likely in dorms, rather than late at night at all-campus parties. What is missing, however, are accurate metrics of the extent to which people drink, which could help bring further light to the issues of vandalism on campus, likely the result of inebriation.
The survey had 528 participants, with a 2:1 ratio of females to males responding. Eighty percent of respondents identified as white, and the distribution across class years was nearly even.
No comments yet.
Comment Guidelines
Please log in to post a comment