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COLLEGE AND ALCOHOL

College Alcohol Risk 
Assessment Guide
Environmental Approaches to Prevention
Barbara E. Ryan / Tom Colthurst / Lance Segars, PhD
The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention
Education Development Center, Inc.
55 Chapel Street
Newton, MA 02158-1060
Tel: 800 676-1730
In cooperation with Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Studies UCSD Extension, 
University of California, San Diego
This publication was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, 
Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE).
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the individuals listed below for reviewing draft manuscripts for this 
publication. We appreciate the comments they provided to help the authors assure 
that this Guide has a solid scientific foundation and contains clear messages. To the 
extent that we achieved that goal, the credit is theirs. To the extent that we didn't,
the 
fault is ours.
William DeJong, PhD, lecturer, Harvard School of Public Health.
James H. Evans, MS, assistant professor of behavioral sciences and chair, Chemical 
Dependency Program, San Diego City College.
Louis Gliksman, PhD, scientist and acting director, Social Evaluation and Research 
Department, Addiction Foundation, London, Ontario, Canada.
Thomas Griffin, MSW, division director, Health Promotion Resources, St. Paul, MN.
Lavona M. Grow, director of dissemination competition, FIPSE, Drug Prevention 
Programs in Higher Education, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Harold D. Holder, PhD, director, Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for 
Research and Evaluation, Berkeley.
Karen Hughes, MPH, associate director, the Trauma Foundation at San Francisco 
General Hospital.
Michelle Johnston, MPH, campus organizer, University of California, San Diego.
Chris Lovato, PhD, project director, California College Health 2000, San Diego State 
University.
Special thanks go to members of the San Diego Area Intercollegiate Consortium for 
the Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems and to participants in project 
focus groups who provided valuable insight and direction for the development of this 
Guide.
U.S. Department of Education 
This guide is a publication of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other 
Drug Prevention funded by the U.S. Department of Education, under contract No. 
SS95013001. Views expressed are those of the contractor. No official support or 
endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education is intended or should be inferred. 
The University of California, San Diego, first published the CARA in 1994, with 
support from the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of 
Postsecondary Education. The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug 
Prevention subsequently engaged the same authorship team to update the publication, 
hence this Second Edition, 1997.
Layout Design: J. Lane Designs 
Production: The Higher Education Center
College Alcohol Risk 
Assessment Guide
Environmental Approaches to Prevention
4 Introduction
11 Problem-Oriented Prevention
13 Scanning
19 Analysis
25 Response
43 Assessment
49 Let Students Have a Say in Prevention
Appendices
A: Scanning Exercises
B: Analysis Exercises 
C: Selected Publications and Resources 
D: About the Authors 
Introduction
The College Alcohol Risk Assessment Guide will help you identify and modify risks 
that contribute to alcohol-related problems within college and university 
communities.
The Guide describes methods and exercises you can follow to gather and organize 
information about alcohol use and associated adverse consequences at institutions of 
higher education and within surrounding communities. 
Despite general agreement among campus officials and students alike that alcohol 
use contributes to a range of problems confronting colleges and universities, 
prevention often does not command a high priority for students, faculty, and staff. 
Making the case for prevention can be frustrating work, posing the challenge of 
getting people to understand why problems occur and how they can make a 
difference.
The Guide can help you meet that challenge. Its four goals are to:
*help you gather information on the extent of problems related to alcohol use at your 
college or university;
*help you understand and describe environmental factors within your campus 
community that promote or discourage high-risk alcohol use;
*assist you in organizing information on alcohol-related problems in an intelligible 
way, so that you can articulate concerns and generate a prevention support network at 
your college;
*prepare you for work in reducing alcohol-related problems by identifying possible 
issues that can stimulate prevention efforts.
What Is Prevention?
This Guide focuses on alcohol problem prevention, defined as the avoidance of 
problems (the 5 Ds) related to alcohol use, such as social Disruption--including lost 
academic opportunities--injury, property Damage, Disability and physical Disorder, 
and premature Death.
Although problems related to the use of illicit drugs continue to challenge colleges 
and universities, alcohol has long been the drug of choice among college students, 
who drink at higher rates than their noncollege counterparts.(1) Over 40 percent of 
college students-and half of the males report binge drinking (consuming five or more 
drinks on a single occasion) within the prior two weeks.(2, 3) Surveys of campus 
officials, students, and faculty find that alcohol problems rank high among campus-
life issues of greatest concern.(4)
However, this focus on alcohol problems is not meant to diminish or discount 
problems related to other drug use. And while the Guide specifically addresses risks 
for alcohol problems, some of the approaches and exercises presented are also 
applicable to the prevention of other drug problems. But fundamental differences in 
public policies governing the sale and use of alcoholic beverages-in contrast with 
illicit drugs-allow for a wider range of prevention strategies. 
______________________________________________________________
(1)Lloyd D. Johnston et al., Drug Use, Drinking, and Smoking: National Survey 
Results from High School, College, and Young Adult Populations, 1975-1990 
(Washington, DC: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1991), p.9.
(2)Cheryl A. Presley, Philip W. Meilman, and Rob Lyerla, Alcohol and Drugs on 
American College Campuses: Use, Consequences, and Perceptions of the Campus 
Environment, Vol. 1: 1989-91 (Carbondale, IL: The Core Institute, 1993), p.45.
(3)Henry W. Wensler et al., Health and Behavioral Consequences of Binge 
Drinking in College: A National Survey of Students at 140 Colleges, Journal of the 
American Medical Association, p. 272 (1994).
(4)The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Campus Life: In 
Search of Community (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990), p. 39.
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A Public Health Approach
The strategies to prevent or reduce alcohol problems described in the Guide reflect a 
public health perspective. A distinctive feature of public health is that it focuses on 
communities, not individuals. A public health perspective stresses that problems arise 
through reciprocal relationships among an individual, a direct cause, and an 
environment.
In the case of alcohol problems, the direct cause is alcohol, and the environment is 
the social and physical context in which drinking occurs. Public health prevention 
strategies place particular emphasis on ways to shape the environment to reduce 
alcohol-related problems.
Environmental factors influencing individual drinking decisions include how, where, 
and when alcohol is made available in a given community or setting. These factors 
are often governed by formal and informal policies, such as customs, traditions, and 
norms. For example, federal and state tax policies influence the price of alcoholic 
beverages and help determine its economic availability (see The Price of Alcoholic 
Beverages). A public health approach acknowledges that alcohol problems are 
ultimately linked to the larger social and economic system.
Beginning in the 1970s, new information on the nature, magnitude, and incidence of 
alcohol problems showed that alcohol can be problematic when used by any drinker, 
depending on the situation or context of drinking.(5) There was renewed emphasis on 
the diverse consequences of alcohol use-particularly trauma associated with drinking 
and driving, fires, and water sports-as well as long-term health consequences.
Research Basis 
What do we know about preventing alcohol-related problems? Because alcohol-
related problems are complex, there are no easy answers. However, findings from a 
body of research studies suggest that certain actions can reduce certain problems. The 
key to successful prevention initiatives is matching up a specific problem with 
actions that have been found to be successful in reducing that problem.(6) 
The approaches described in the Guide are based on research demonstrating that 
increases in alcohol availability lead to increases in alcohol consumption, which in 
turn lead to increases in alcohol problems(7) (see Alcohol in the Environment).
A complex set of cultural, social, economic, and political interactions contribute to 
the level of alcohol availability in a given society, community, or even 
neighborhood.(8)
Patterns of consumption and problems in the general population similarly vary in 
relation to the physical, psychosocial, and normative environment in which individual 
drinking decisions occur, as influenced by the retail, public, and social availability of

alcohol.
In general, alcohol availability refers to the manner in which alcohol is served and 
sold in a given community or society. For example, if beer is priced lower than sodas 
during happy hour at a campus pub, the result is an increase in the economic 
availability of alcohol (see The Price of Alcoholic Beverages).
Problem Identification and Analysis
Traditional prevention efforts on college campuses have, for the most part, focused 
on providing individuals with information and skills to help them avoid problems. A 
pamphlet on alcohol use and problems 
distributed in student orientation packets is one example of individual-centered 
prevention activities. These activities focus on the who of alcohol problems.
This Guide will help you collect information to understand and respond to the what, 
where, when, why, and how surrounding alcohol use and related problems. What are 
the problems at our college? Where and when do they occur? Responses to those 
questions help you gain a better understanding of why problems occur. Then you can 
determine how to make environmental changes to reduce problems.
Once you collect information, the findings can serve several purposes. Most 
important, information informs prevention strategies and decisions by helping you 
identify opportunities for intervention and environmental change. By sharing 
information with the larger campus community, you not only raise awareness but also 
spark discussion and debate and generate interest and involvement of community 
members.
______________________________________________________________
(5)Dan E. Beauchamp, Beyond Alcoholism: Alcohol and Public Health Policy 
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1981), pp. 152-182. 
(6)U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Seventh Special Report to the 
U.S. Congress on Alcohol and Health (Rockville, MD, 1990), pp. 210-211.7
(7)Mark H. Moore and Dean R. Gerstein, eds., Alcohol and Public Policy: Beyond 
the Shadow of Prohibition (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1981), p. 47
(8)Harold D. Holder and Lawrence Wallack, Contemporary Perspectives in 
Preventing Alcohol Problems: An Empirically Derived Model, Journal of Public 
Health Policy, 7, No. 3 (Autumn 1986): pp. 324-339.
______________________________________________________________
After the drinking age was raised to 21, underage students at a large western 
university started holding large, off-campus parties on a main street near campus with 
a lot of rental houses. Neighborhood residents began to find more and more beer cans 
littering their lawns, noted an increase in neighborhood vandalism, and were often 
awakened by party noises. Hundreds of students roamed the streets going from party 
to party, causing traffic problems and other disturbances. In response to complaints, 
city and campus police embarked on a joint effort to enforce underage drinking laws 
by standing on street corners and handing out citations to offenders. Things started to 
change. Fewer beer cans littered the neighborhood, vandalism dropped, and police 
reported that calls for noise disturbances, incidents of vandalism, and drunk and 
disorderly conduct declined almost 30 percent. A new city ordinance requires 
offenders to appear in court and pay larger fines. They must also attend and pay for a 
university alcohol education class, which helps support the campus prevention 
program. 
PREVENTION STRATEGIES(9)
Individual
Behavior and behavior change
Relationship between individuals and their alcohol-related problems
Short-term program development
People remain isolated and focused on self
Individual as audience
Professionals make the decisions
Environmental
Policy and policy change
Social, political, and economic context of alcohol-related problems
Long-term policy development
People gain power by acting collectively
Individual as advocate
Professionals help create avenues for citizens to develop and express their voice
Prevention on Campus: A Broader View
Colleges and universities have developed a wide range of creative and innovative 
approaches for imparting information and raising awareness about alcohol use and 
problems. For example, students at many campuses use theater to get alcohol 
prevention messages across to their classmates.
Many campuses have developed cadres of peer educators who make presentations 
about alcohol awareness and problem avoidance in classrooms and at residence halls 
and fraternities.
Alcohol education activities are a necessary part of alcohol problem prevention 
efforts. However, they are insufficient by themselves to achieve substantial 
reductions in alcohol problem.(10)
Alcohol problems are matters of public policy and not just individual habits and 
lifestyles. It's not just a matter of the right people making the right decisions-whether

to drink and when to drink and where to drink-it's more than that. It's the rules and 
regulations-formal as well as informal-and the environment that surround those 
decisions.
______________________________________________________________
(9)Adapted from James F. Mosher, speech at the FIPSE New Grantee Training 
Institute, February 1993.
(10)Adapted from James F. Mosher, speech at the FIPSE New Grantee Training 
Institute, February 1993.
______________________________________________________________
Prevention is more likely to be successful when efforts directed at altering individual 
behavior operate in tandem with those directed at altering the environment.
By moving away from a singular focus that tends to blame individual drinkers, we 
can look to broader influences in our environments that contribute both to individual 
and community alcohol problems.(11)
Students making the transition to adulthood often live in a learning environment that 
supports experimentation and limits adult responsibility. Not surprisingly, many 
experiment with alcohol, drink heavily, and are at high risk for alcohol-related 
problems.(12)
But there are new ways for colleges and universities to both examine risk levels and 
make changes to mitigate those risks. 
How to Use This Guide
Changes in institutional environments surrounding alcohol use require the broadest 
involvement of those affiliated with the institution, including students, parents, staff,

faculty, alumni, and members of surrounding communities. The challenge for 
environmental prevention is generating and sustaining coalitions committed to 
making changes. A staff person cannot do it sitting in an office.
The key to sustaining an interest in prevention is energizing new or existing campus 
organizations, especially students, to take an interest in prevention. Sometimes 
linking campus efforts with prevention activities in surrounding communities helps 
stimulate interest. Coordination with state and national organizations or activities can

generate local interest.
At most colleges and universities, alcohol problem prevention issues are not a very 
high priority. Often the limited resources available are bounded by time constraints of 
a specific government grant. To imbue prevention values within an institution, those 
concerned with prevention must become brokers-that is, they become agents for 
issues that are important and market them to campus resources.
You and your group can be agents for prevention by building and sustaining 
relationships with others who may have an interest in the numerous social, cultural, 
and economic issues surrounding alcohol use in our society. You can help them 
refocus those interests to support prevention efforts.
This Guide helps you develop relationships through an information-driven process 
that draws the attention of campus members to those factors in your environment that 
contribute to alcohol-related problems.
Use the exercises in the Guide to expand the circle of people interested in and 
committed to reducing specific alcohol-related problems at your school. The 
exercises give people a better understanding of what problems are occurring on 
campus. By examining campus and community environments, they learn where and 
when problems occur, which in turn helps them understand why problems occur. If 
they understand the environmental factors influencing problems at their school, they 
then feel they know how to make changes to reduce those problems.
Everyone is in charge of prevention. And prevention is not a program. Rather, it is an 
informed commitment. The process described in the Guide gives you the information 
you need to generate that commitment on your campus.
______________________________________________________________
(11)James F. Mosher and David H. Jernigan, New Directions in Alcohol Policy, 
Annual Review of Public Health, 10 (1989): 245-79.
(12)Henry Wechsler and Nancy Isaac, Alcohol and the College Freshman: Binge 
Drinking and Associated Problems (Washington, DC: AAA Foundation for Traffic 
Safety, 1991), pp. 21-25.
______________________________________________________________
Problem-Oriented Prevention
Some problems related to alcohol use reported by U.S. college students: (13)
* Missed classes
* Performed poorly on a test
* Had hangover
* Been hurt or injured
* Fights or arguments
* Trouble with authorities
* Damaged property
* Taking sexual advantage
* Drinking and driving
Problem-oriented prevention targets attention and action on specific consequences of 
alcohol use.
College administrators and students report a range of alcohol-related problems at 
colleges and universities. National surveys recount aggregate problem levels (see 
sidebar). But individual campuses may differ based on factors such as the mean age 
of the student body, employment status, ethnicity, religious beliefs, and extent of 
fraternity/sorority involvement.
The Guide includes a series of information collection exercises that will help you 
define specific problems at your institution and understand your own culture of 
alcohol use and adverse consequences.
Problem-oriented prevention borrows the SARA method (scanning, analysis, 
response, assessment), a law enforcement community policing technique growing in 
popularity. This method helps cops move from merely responding to incidents in an 
isolated manner to analyzing underlying problems and response options in 
collaboration with community groups.
SARA readily transfers to prevention efforts in a range of communities. For colleges 
and universities, it uses campus collaboration and information as a way to develop 
and monitor problem reduction strategies in an understandable process.
In scanning you look beyond immediate incidents or issues to determine if they are 
part of a broader problem. If so, you then engage in problem analysis, through the 
gathering of information from a wide variety of sources, to determine not only the 
nature and scope of the problems but also the resources to help solve the problem. 
You are then ready to implement a response intended to provide long-range solutions 
to underlying problems. Then you assess whether your strategy has been successful 
and make any necessary changes following the same approach.
______________________________________________________________
(13)Presley, Meilman, and Lyerla, op. Cit., pp.20-24.
______________________________________________________________
SARA
Scanning 
Develop a campus profile
Look around
Have conversations
Recruit allies
Analysis
Identify information needs
Collect information
Define problems
Response
Decide what to do
Implement actions to reduce problems
Assessment
Collect information on problem indicators
Measure impact of responses
Reassess priorities
Scanning
Scanning is both the first step in understanding the nature of alcohol use and adverse 
consequences and a way to identify potential areas of support for prevention efforts. 
Scanning helps you think about your institution's environment from a risk indicator 
perspective.
Most problems related to alcohol use are not identified as such until they attain 
community visibility. Indicators of alcohol problems often go unnoticed until the 
problems become so severe that they can no longer be ignored. But campuses don't 
have to wait for a riot-like the one during Rancho Chico Days, involving students 
from Chico State University in California, or a tragedy like the alcohol poisoning 
death of a University of Florida student-to take a look at the environment to see what 
kinds of problems exist.
Scanning is something most of us do everyday. We walk around to get a sense of 
what a community is like. What are the issues for community members surrounding 
alcohol use and adverse consequences? We talk to people, maybe take some 
photographs or use a video camera to record information. What kinds of problems 
are we seeing out there? Where do we start?
Enlisting Allies
While one person could scan a campus, these exercises are a good way to get others 
involved. Scanning is easy, interesting, and even entertaining.
Group members can compare impressions and information gained through scanning 
to gauge preliminary agreement on problems and contributing factors. Scanning 
exercises can help you develop a core group of interested individuals and generate 
discussion on your campus by highlighting alcohol issues in 
the environment. Forms for the following exercises are included in Appendix A.
Scanning Exercise
A-1 A Quick Profile, helps you develop a quick profile of your campus to highlight 
environmental factors that may be contributing to alcohol use and adverse 
consequences. You and members of your group note your impressions and opinions 
at your institution. This exercise helps initiate discussion and generate interest in 
prevention.
A-2 Looking Around, gets your group out and about on your campus and in 
surrounding communities to look for problem indicators. You record what you see 
when looking at your campus and community and compare your impressions with 
others in your group.
Once you and your group have developed some impressions of problems related to 
alcohol use at your school, a simple way to find out what other people think is to talk 
with them. Not only will conversations help you confirm or negate your impressions, 
they will also help you identify potential allies and opponents, as well as resources 
for prevention efforts.
A-3 Having Conversations, lists those on campus who are both potential allies and 
sources of information. Talk to some or all of these people.
For some conversations you might want to make an appointment. Other 
conversations might be more informal, such as at receptions, around a cafeteria table, 
or in student lounges. Though you want to get opinions about issues that you and 
your group think are important, be attentive for other issues raised. You don't always 
need to talk to the person in charge. Those in the so-called trenches of campus life 
can often provide valuable insights into alcohol use and adverse consequences.
Scanning Yields Preliminary Information
It's important to talk to a variety of people on campus. You want to get a 
representative picture of widely held values on your campus regarding alcohol use 
and measures to reduce problems. Go where students congregate and talk to them at 
random. Scanning doesn't have to be overly formal.
Use conversations to identify existing campus information resources on alcohol-
related problems and to encourage others to get involved with your group.
For example, residence life advisors at one college kept routine records of incidents, 
such as rowdy behavior and curfew violations. While many problems were alcohol-
related, it wasn't mentioned unless the incident was directly related to drinking. 
Minor changes in the way incidents were recorded resulted in a clearer understanding 
of the role of alcohol in residence hall problems, suggesting points for intervention.
You may find that others who collect campus information-such as campus security 
and health services-can make small changes in the way they record information that 
will help your efforts.
Information gained from scanning exercises serves multiple purposes. You and your 
group can:
*identify specific problems on your campus;
*discover high-risk drinking environments on your campus and in your community;
*enlist new allies by using information to establish relationships with a cadre of 
students, faculty, and campus officials; and
*stimulate informed consideration of problems and contributing environmental 
factors on campus.
However scanning usually doesn't provide you with enough information to 
understand fully the nature of the problems. Further analysis is often necessary for 
your campus to agree on problem definition. Scanning helps narrow the field of 
interest by directing your attention to important issues on your campus.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Recruit student photographers and 
cinematographers to document the environment. Pictures or videos of on- and off-
campus alcohol outlets, social events, billboards, and other activities can describe 
eloquently the alcohol environment on your campus. Use photos and videos to raise 
environmental issues and generate campus dialogue about environmental messages.
Look around and talk to people.
Students complain that there is nothing to do when they are not studying or in class, 
and cite boredom and stress as reasons for drinking. One way to determine 
opportunities for socializing is through a quick scan of the campus newspaper and 
bulletin boards to see what types of activities are advertised and promoted. Things to 
look for are extracurricular activities that are alcohol-related, such as student night 
drink specials at local taverns, and those that are not, such as lectures, concerts, film

festivals, or sports activities. Are students' perceptions of the campus environment 
correct? Is more information needed before changes can occur?
Make it easy: Ask residence hall advisors to place one check mark for an incident 
report if the perpetrator had been drinking, two check marks if the victim had been 
drinking. Three check marks signify that both had been drinking.
Analysis
Does your school do yearly quality-of-life surveys? Check to see if responses include 
problem indicators.
Does your school conduct exit surveys or interviews with graduates or with those 
who leave before graduation?
Garbology is like archeology. Trash and litter are physical evidence of human 
activities. Garbage and litter indicate what people are drinking, and where and when 
drinking occurs.
The goal of analysis is to collect accurate information on indicators of problems 
related to alcohol use. Indicators are measures of the nature, magnitude, or incidence 
of problems. Analysis provides you with information you need to understand 
environmental influences on alcohol use and adverse consequences on your campus. 
Use this information to formulate prevention strategies aimed at altering 
environments to reduce risks associated with drinking on your campus. Surveys of 
campus populations are a common way to collect problem information. Other 
methods are less traditional.
For example, counting the number of reported incidents of underage drinking in 
residence halls is one way to measure the magnitude of underage drinking on your 
campus.
Another indicator of underage drinking is the number of beer cans discarded in trash 
bins at a residence hall for first-year students. Counting beer cans on different days 
can tell you when d