More Sex, Drinking in Coed Dorms: Study
By KATHARINE GRAY
Updated 4:45 PM EST, Tue, Nov 17, 2009
Would you be surprised to find that sex and drinking were more common in coed college dorms?
Didn't think so. But that doesn't mean it's not a big deal.
A LiveScience study released Tuesday showed that 42 percent of students in coed housing binge drink on a weekly basis, compared with just 18 percent of those in all-girls or all-boys dorms. The study surveyed more than 500 students from five universities around the country for its data.
Oh, it also said 90 percent of college dorms in the U.S. were coed -- so we'd say the problem is pretty widespread.
Students in these dorms are more likely to have a higher "number" and watch more porn under these living conditions.
So what's the deal -- are partiers showing their natural wild sides by choosing to live with members of the opposite sex when they get to college?
Apparently not, according to the study, as students are usually placed there by their schools automatically but can choose to live elsewhere if the thought of cohabiting makes them a little uneasy. Needless to say, that's not the usual response.
The study also tried to identify other factors -- age, gender, religion, personality, relationship status -- that could potentially affect binge drinking, but didn't find any changes.
"When we first identified these differences with binge drinking, we felt certain that they would be explained by selection effects," said Brian Willoughby, lead author of the study. "But as we examined the data further we found that the differences remained."
Another study conducted in 2007 showed that going to college causes many young people to become alcoholics. Maybe higher education isn't all it's cracked up to be, huh?
We attempted to reach out to some area schools for comment on this story but were unable to get any response.
First Published: Nov 17, 2009 3:16 PM EST
You Might Like
You have 2000 characters left
