Literature Review Blog #1

Vander Ven, Thomas. Getting Wasted: Why College Students Drink Too Much and Party so Hard. New York: New York UP, 2011. Print.

The reading is about how college kids use each other as support and encouragement to drink and continue drinking even after nights of embarrassing or destructive behavior.  The book contains many different student accounts on drinking experiences and it gives a very good insight into what the motives are behind kids drinking so much.  Vander Ven argues that drinking in college is a social scene and explains how through examples.

Thomas Vander Ven, Ph. D., is an associate professor in the department of sociology and anthropology at Ohio University.  His studies include sociology of alcohol and social problems.  

Binge drinking-defined for men as the consumption of five or more alcoholic drinks in a row at least once in the prior two weeks, and for women as the consumption of four or more drinks in a row at least once in the prior two weeks.

Social norm-college students generally believe that their peers regularly consume more alcohol than they do.  This belief that drinking large quantities of alcohol is normative may influence students to try to match that level of consumption because “that’s what everyone does in college.”

“College students who binge drink are more likely to do poorly in school, miss class, vandalize property, get into fights and get injured, and get sexually victimized than their non-binging counterparts.” (page 4)  This quote is a good general statement of the consequences of binge drinking that can be more thoroughly explored.

“Beer is beautiful. As a shy person by nature, I forget all about it. I can talk to beautiful women much easier. It is liquid courage most definitely.” (page 55)  This quote is an example of what a nineteen-year-old male said and it gives a good look into why college kids want to drink.

“In drunkworld, people fall down, slur their words, break things, laugh uncontrollably, act crazy, flirt, hook up, get sick, pass out, fight, dance, sing, and get overly emotional.”  This image of “drunkworld” is a look at how kids see the world when they’re drunk and some of the experiences that happen to them.

This source is a great way to explore my research question by looking at many different examples.  There is a plethora of different student accounts for almost every imaginable situation involving binge drinking.  It is a great way to try and understand the motives for getting so drunk by seeing things through students eyes and seeing how they think.