Common challenges
Every college student has a different story, but many face similar challenges. When the difficulty of managing college life seems overwhelming, some students may use drugs and alcohol to feel less stressed. Here are some common challenges:
Changing lifestyle
Going to college often means a major life change. Whether a student goes there straight from high school, from the business world or military, or from a gap year, adjusting to a new routine can be difficult. Especially in the first year, many students may feel homesick, lonely, or isolated.
Social pressure
Students may feel the need to drink or use drugs as a way to fit in or make friends in a new environment, particularly when campus social life is linked with using drugs and alcohol.
Partying can seem like a natural part of the college experience. But when it involves binge drinking (consuming about four drinks for women and five for men within two hours), drug use, or mixing drugs and alcohol, there’s an increased risk for unsafe situations, injury, and even death. Researchers estimate that every year, among college students ages 18–24:
- More than 1,500 die from alcohol-related accidents.
- About 97,000 report alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape.
- Almost 700,000 are assaulted by a student who has been drinking.
Other risks include getting in trouble with the police, engaging in unsafe sex, and suffering accidental injuries.
Academic and career pressure
Even if a student earned good grades in high school, college-level work can create a daunting change of pace. Between time in class and hours required for homework, studying, work, and sleep — all while maintaining a social life — it may seem like there aren’t enough hours in the day. And when grades fluctuate, or internship and job applications are rejected, students may feel insecure and question whether they are cut out for the future they have imagined.
This academic pressure can lead to drinking and drug use, sometimes producing a downward spiral. Misusing alcohol and drugs can reduce academic performance, compounding the pressure to do well and increasing the stress that spurred the substance misuse. In fact, about one-quarter of college students report missing class, performing poorly on a test or paper, and getting lower grades due to drinking.
Mental health issues
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 75 percent of mental health conditions develop by age 24 — and 1 in 5 adults per year experience a mental health condition. Students may have symptoms of depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for the first time at college. Students that have survived traumatic events such as sexual assault often experience symptoms of depression and PTSD. Students may find that it’s tough living with a mental health condition when it’s combined with academic pressure and the challenge of finding support in a new environment, and that may increase their risk for drug and alcohol problems.
