Alcohol and Academics

Most students are in college for a number of reasons; for an education, to succeed academically, and to get a degree. Students are in college because they are smart, certainly smart enough to get into school, and if they so choose, smart enough to stay in school. However, when some students have to leave school, it’s not because they struggled in the classroom; they struggled in their choices around alcohol use. Their alcohol use resulted in missing class, doing poorly on tests or projects, disciplinary issues, or other problems. Essentially, they didn’t balance their bottles and their books. Does alcohol abuse have an effect on our academics? Of course it does! And the statistics back that up. On average, students who drink the most alcohol receive the lowest grades:

  • “D” and “F” students average 9.5 drinks per week
  • “C” students average 5.6 drinks per week
  • “B” students averages 4.4 drinks per week
  • “A” students average 3.1 drinks per week
Sometimes, alcohol can lead to more than a decrease in GPA. Alcohol is estimated to be the cause of 40% of major academic deficiencies and nearly 30% of all dropouts. Why? There are obvious reasons. People who are out late partying often over sleep and miss classes. Someone who is hungover is more likely to sleep in, or may be too sick to attend class. People who party several times a week can fall behind on their homework, projects, or papers. There is also some evidence that alcohol use also affects some of the brain functions that affect learning. In their book Buzzed, recently revised in 2003, authors Kuhn, Scwartzwelder and Wilson describe five areas where mental functioning can be compromised.

Memory Foundation

Memory foundation is the ability to form new memories, not the ability to recall information that was learned in the past. A chronic drinker may be able to recall something from their childhood, but may not be able to remember what they ate for lunch four hours ago. Also, the richness and detail of the memories during the past few years of drinking might be signi? cantly less than those in earlier years. On mental ability tests, chronic drinkers often perform poorly on retention skills.

Abstract Thinking

The brain interprets different events, observations, and happenings in a variety of different ways. Additionally, one of the major tasks of the brain is to distinguish the difference between concrete, obvious, and surface reasoning, and abstract thinking such as word puzzles and interpreting stories. It seems abstract thinking is more difficult for chronic drinkers.

Problem Solving

Similar to thinking in an abstract way, problem solving often involves using different strategies and reasoning skills. We also need mental flexibility, the ability to switch strategies and approaches to problems in order to solve them efficiently. Often under testing, heavy drinkers find themselves taking a lot longer to find solutions because they get stuck in one particular method of problem solving.

Attention and Concentration

There is some evidence that chronic drinkers have a hard time keeping their attention focused and maintaining their concentration. Attentiveness and concentration are mental functions used in the classroom on a daily basis and are critical parts of the learning process. The degree to which these functions are affected depends on how much alcohol is consumed. Chronic long-term abusers of alcohol experience the major effects. However, “social drinkers” also develop de? cits in their mental functioning. The more alcohol a person has when they go out, the more likely the negative effects will develop.

Perceptions of Emotion

Recent studies show that alcoholics acquire the inability to perceive emotion in people’s language. The specifi c brain function that allows us to perceive attitude and emotion in conversation is impaired in heavy drinkers. It is important to realize that this deficiency is one of perception and does not reflect the drinker’s own emotional state.