ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602160064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PITTSBURGH
SOURCE: Associated Press
Universities worked hard for more than a decade to prevent alcohol abuse among students, but those efforts have recently begun to taper off, a study shows.
``We're starting to lose attention to this issue,'' said David Anderson, a public health professor at George Mason University who co-wrote the study. ``The momentum is starting to shift.''
Anderson discussed the results Thursday at the National Alcohol Beverage Industry Education Conference, which drew about 115 government officials, researchers, social workers and beverage industry executives.
Anderson and West Chester University professor Angelo Gadaleto began their research in 1979, surveying 330 universities. They found that 54 percent required students to serve non-alcoholic drinks at parties where alcohol was available and one-third offered group counseling for students with drinking problems.
More schools were trying to curb alcohol abuse by 1991, when 95 percent of the 330 schools required that soft drinks be served and 72 percent offered group counseling for problem drinkers.
But by 1994, the survey showed, the efforts were starting to slip. Only 90 percent of colleges required that non-alcoholic drinks be served at parties and 59 percent offered counseling.
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB