For decades, drinking and social gatherings have been a huge part of the lives of college and university students. In fact, this holds true to the extent that a college student has either said or heard of a phrase along the lines of “…these are the years to party, dude!” But some individuals even those who do take part in such activities, i.e. myself, may wonder about the fundamental roots of such a cultural trend. One may consider the roles of personality characteristics, levels of maturity, and alcohol as a social catalyst to play part.

In a current news piece, Reil reports on recently published statistics in the United States that suggest that the average amount of binge drinking among individuals between the ages of 18 and 23 who are not in college has decreased; whereas, the rates continue to elevate for those who are in college. In relation to this issue, research study by Hussong examined the role of personal motives, social influences, and three of the ‘Big Five Personality Traits’ in drinking among college students. The findings of this study provide reasonable explanations for the use of alcohol during the college years.

Hussong identifies three types of motives that lead individuals to use alcohol; the three are social motives, coping motives, and enhancement motives. Further, he assesses personality traits such as extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeability in relation to the aforementioned motives. Lastly, he takes into account the influence that our social environments can potentially have an effect on the rates of alcohol consumption. The structure of the study proposes a matrix of interacting factors involved in drinking among students. One aspect of the findings directly supports the statistics provided in the report. Hussong concluded that when drinking with friends, students’ drinking habits are as much influenced by their friends’ drinking motives as are by their own motives. I have personally seen this hypothesis in practice! Many times, a friend who initially did not intend to drink much continued to consume more and more as we socialized with others, especially those of the opposite sex!

Hussong also found a mediating relation between certain motives and the recognized personality traits. He proposes that social and enhancement motives mediate between extraversion and alcohol use. Also, that coping motives mediate between neuroticism and alcohol use. When in college or university, a lot of students use alcohol as a social catalyst in gatherings and parties. Moreover, some students use drinking as a form of self-medication to overcome anti-socialism and depression. This goes hand in hand with the description of behavioural manifestations of The Big Five Personality Traits.

Lastly, I can personally relate to the findings of Hussong’s study. An extraverted individual will find drinking to be one of the best excuses to bring people together; moreover, in so many ways alcohol can lead to having more fun in social situations. In relation to the report, there is no wonder why students consume more alcohol than non-student individuals of the same age group. As students, we live in our societies as well as in the smaller communities on campuses.

All in all, the facts speak for themselves. Drinking among college and university students is still on the rise while that of non-students has reduced over the years. The findings of the abovementioned study do shed some light on the issue. It seems that personality traits, individual motives, and social influence play an undeniable role in drinking among students. However, I believe there is much room left for examination of the issue from different perspectives, and not just from within the psychology discipline. For instance, sociologists and perhaps even political scientists could possibly have some useful contributions to our current knowledge regarding the matter.