Binge-Drinking Students Do Worse in School, But They Are Happier!

Ashley Thorne

So says an article in the paragon of journalistic excellence, am New York, which I picked up as I stepped off the bus on my commute this morning. According to the article, a new study by Carolyn Hsu, a sociologist at Colgate University, finds that college students who binge-drink are more likely to have high social status. They are also more likely to be happy, but to perform poorly in academic work:

Binge drinkers may report more social satisfaction, "but they're also the people who don't do well in school," observed Nathania (cq) Cohen, 21, who graduated from Hunter College in May.

Interestingly, one group of non-bingers reported being very happy:

The one group that reported high levels of social satisfaction without abusing alcohol were religious students, said Hsu.

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