ChickSpeak

According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 86% of women in college have consumed alcohol in their lifetimes and more than 66% report alcohol use within the past month. Age also plays a role, as freshman women are reported to drink more heavily than upper-class women, binge drinking more often than their junior and senior classmates. Binge drinking is defined as having 5 or more alcoholic drinks in one 24 hour period.

So what’s the big deal, you may ask?

Drinking has been linked to many dangerous situations for college students, ranging from blacking out to extreme injury, even alcohol poisoning and death. Women have a whole slew of other issues in the mix such as date rape, date rape drugs, gray rape and dating violence. Add in our heightened reactions to alcohol and drugs due to higher levels of fat in our bodies, typically smaller frames, and lower levels of enzymes needed to break down these substances prior to them entering our bloodstream, as compared to those of men, and we’re primed for trouble.

Women Under the Influenceis an in-depth study and report on substance abuse as it effects women and is an encouraged read for anyone who drinks or whose life has been impacted from substance abuse. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia, in association with Johns Hopkins Press, has created a comprehensive book that outlines and explains the physical and emotional effects of substance abuse in girls and women, with an entire section dedicated to college women. This book also explores the roles of advertising and the entertainment industries in women’s decisions regarding substance abuse.

While this book isn’t exactly a great “beach read,” due to its heavy-hitting facts and information, its content is invaluable and should be added as a reference book to every young woman’s personal library.