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Dealing with the media regarding college drinking issues is a challenge. On the one hand media representatives tend to focus on the negative aspects of campus life such as high risk drinking (aka: Binge Drinking) and, of course, it is important for us to inform students and their parents about our concerns. And yet, we have learned it is just as, if not more important for campus representatives to avoid feeding the misperception that "everyone drinks." After all, reducing the misperceptions about college drinking or "Social Norms" strategies have proven to be somewhat effective in reducing campus consumption patterns.

CNN wanted to focus on the statistics that highlighted high risk users, and their editing of the news piece clearly reflected that desire. The WMUR piece allowed for a lengthier discussion about misperceptions of campus drinking norms.

So the challenge we face is alerting students, parents, faculty and staff about the hazards of high risk drinking for the drinker and those around him or her while not feeding the misperception that the "norm" is high risk drinking. Speaking of high risk drinking, many prevention specialists have moved from the controversial term "binge" as well as its controversial definition (5 or more drinks in one sitting for men and 4 or more drinks in one sitting for women) and moved to more acceptable terms such as "high risk" drinking. My personal preference is the use of the term high risk drinking.

The Prime for Life course allows for a lengthy discussion and presentation about a definition of high risk consumption of alcohol based on a person's biological background and other factors as well.

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