Life-Affirming Study of the Day

A new study of 1,600 liberal arts majors in the Northeast, unveiled at this week's American Sociological Association meeting, basically validates what everyone already knows -- binge drinking in college is more fun than not binge drinking in college.

The study, which defines binge drinking as more than four drinks in a night for females, and five for males, found:

• Social satisfaction was higher among members of high-status groups (wealthy, white, male, Greek) than their low-status counterparts (poor, female, non-Greek, LGBTQ, minorities).
• Low-status students were able to increase their happiness with their social lives by binge drinking.
• Students who belonged to high-status groups were less socially satisfied if they did not binge drink.

"I would guess it has to do with feeling like you belong and whether or not you're doing what a 'real' college student does," says study co-author and Colgate University associate professor Carolyn HsuHsu. "It seems to be more about certain groups getting to define what that looks like."

[wapo]