Texas college student drinking rates on high-profile football game days sometimes rank higher than on New Year's Eve and Halloween weekend, according to a two-year study conducted by UT psychology professor Kim Fromme.
Co-authored by Dan Neal of Kent State University, the study was published in the November issue of Addictive Behaviors. The two observed UT students on campus during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 football seasons.
The 2005 Red River Rivalry game - in which UT beat Oklahoma 45-12 - produced higher drinking rates than the following New Year's Eve, according to the study. In 2004, New Year's Eve ranked the highest, followed by the home win over Missouri.
In 2005, four games also ranked higher than Halloween weekend.
Both Texas A&M rivalry games and Rose Bowls ranked lower than most other game days. The study attributed this to the fact that many students were not on campus at the time.
The Daily Texan previously reported that the UT Police Department sees a substantial increase in crimes on game day. In September, crimes related to football games comprised 54 percent of all crimes on game day and 20 percent of the month.
Some UT students said they did not want to believe that game-day drinking rates ranked so high but could see it as a possibility.
"I guess it depends on the type of student you are," music and German senior Lauren Miller said. "In a sense I find it hard to believe that students might [drink] so heavily at a sports event, especially since we're representing our school and trying to maintain this positive identity of ourselves and our student body. Yet at the same time, when I have gone to sporting events, I have seen people falling down drunk."
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