<p>“I read somewhere that the 21 drinking age has lowered rates of alcohol related car accidents, which was its purpose. However, it has led to an increase in binge drinking on campuses, because under-21 students now feel the need to “pre-party” or “power drink” before they go out in public.”</p>
<p>It’s an interesting idea, but there is no statistical evidence for it. We have campus binge drinking numbers for the last 37 years through Monitoring the Future. Binge drinking on campus as a statistical matter has not increased.</p>
<p>However, what seems to have increased is the amount drunk by binge drinkers. As, I’ve previously noted, the average four-drinking NON-binge drinker actually, on average had five, and each drink was 1.8X a standard drink, meaning s/he had nine. This doesn’t happen often with beer, which comes in cans and bottles, and is driven by change in beverage choice.</p>