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Stories in the media regularly portray students as drinking heavily during spring break. These researchers examined whether college students actually are more likely to drink heavily during spring break than at other times and, if so, whether this experience influences subsequent drinking patterns.
From an initial sample of 202 college students under age 21 who lived in campus housing, 176 were interviewed by telephone for 10 minutes once a week for 10 weeks during the spring of their freshman year. The interviews were conducted from 7 weeks before spring break to 2 weeks afterwards.
Among students who traveled during spring break week, the average number of drinks per week increased by about four during break, and the number of drinks on the…