According to recent research, the drinking ritual of downing 21 or more drinks on one's 21st birthday is more common than expected among college students. Studies show students are becoming likely to participate in the ritual because of social-networking sites, such as YouTube or Flickr, where people can recreate their 21st birthday celebrations by posting videos of taking 21 shots.
Kenneth Sher, professor of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia and director of the research project, said the study was part of a five-year survey in which students were asked questions about their drinking experiences. His study has had the largest sample to date, with the most honest responses from students.
Sher said he studied students before they started college in the spring of their junior year or the fall of their senior year, and asked them how many drinks they consumed on their 21st birthdays.
"We found that the majority of students - about 83 percent - reported using alcohol," Sher said. "The average number of drinks was 12.5, and we actually found that a quarter of females and a third of males attempted drinking 21 or more."
He said the popularity of posting videos on sites such as YouTube and Flickr are a big influence on students who attempt the "21 on 21" ritual. They are a way for students to show the world what they did on their 21st birthday.
"It's kind of like an advertisement of the behavior. YouTube lets anyone be the producer of their own movie, so it's a way of someone starring in it," Sher said. "I think most people use it to help recreate the evening because of blackouts. I suspect that some of the technology we have now reinforces it."
Sher said he realizes studies prove the level of drinking among students has increased over the years, mainly due to games and events associated with drinking, including beer pong and flip cup.
He said he thinks college drinking has always been heavy, but with some of the extreme drinking, the prevalence is higher because of drinking events that take place.
"People use things like 'shot books,' where they keep a scrapbook record of all the drinks they consumed," Sher said. "There are also 'case days,' where students bring a case of beer and drink it on their lawns. Drinking games were very uncommon before, but over the course of 20 years there has been a great increase. It's occurring at a very high level."
Clayton Neighbors, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington Center for the Study of Health and Risk Behaviors in Seattle, said he facilitated a study similar to the study conducted at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
"We've done about five or six studies, and we have found pretty high rates of drinking on their 21st," Neighbors said. "We asked everyone who was turning 21 to be in the study, and incorporated a web-based feedback program in which the students log on and we ask them questions relating to their 21st birthday. We show them that it's not as common as they think it is."
Neighbors said he sent the Web information approximately two days before their 21st birthdays and randomly provided feedback to a portion of the students who completed the questionnaire, based on their responses. He said he found students who received feedback were much more apt to have a change or difference in opinion.
"We gave them info on how much people actually drink, and found that it's not as much as they think they do," he said. "We're not trying to get students not to drink, but to just be safe."
He said one of the goals of the study is to try to prevent students from drinking too much on their 21st birthdays because it can lead to severe consequences.
"When we started the study, we had a young man end up in a coma on his 21st. That very same week, a woman ended up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning," he said. "Students don't realize that a certain amount of alcohol can kill you. A lot of what we're trying to do is educate them about blood alcohol concentration, and it worked."
Danielle Caby, a senior at the University of Delaware, said she feels it is important for students to educate themselves about the ritual, since partaking in over-consumption can lead to drastic consequences.
"I don't know if I had 21 drinks, and I don't think I ever would, but I had only a few on my 21st. It's a rite of passage for most students, but mainly it's just a one-time thing," Caby said. "It's not a good idea to have so many drinks in a short amount of time."
She said she has never seen anyone try 21 shots in one night.
"During freshman year, this guy had about 15 and he was all over the place," she said. "I know UD used to be a huge party school. In the early 2000s, I remember reading articles about how students were drinking to the extreme and weren't too careful."
Tammy Anderson, a sociology professor at the University of Delaware and an expert in alcohol studies, said she believes a student's social setting has a lot to do with the ritual.
"Social setting changes after students graduate and gets jobs," Anderson said. "Even their consumption patterns change. I think a great deal of it is peer pressure. Peers define alcohol as the cool thing to do on campus."
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