Drinking Town With a Football Problem

Study: UT Students Drink Most on Big Football Game Days

A new study found the drinking habits of students at the University of Texas tend to be much higher when the college's football team is in action.

The study tested randomly selected students. The majority said they drink much heavily on days of high profile football games than on holidays like New Year's Eve, annually one of the largest American drinking nights.

For women, college game days represent more of a social occasion," Kim Fromme, a psychologist at the university told The Houston Chronicle. "The biggest problem is what other kinds of behavioral risks they engage in when drinking. That includes driving afterwards or going home with a new sexual partner."

"It's important for us to know what are the particularly high-risk events for college drinking," Fromme also said.

Among males, drinking increased on all gameday, regardless of whether the university's team, the Longhorns, played home or away.

"Clearly, students have the means and the opportunity to consume alcohol regardless of whether the game is held on campus and they chose to attend, or whether the game is away and they watch on television," the newspaper reported the study said.

"Only when it is less acceptable to be drunk during college football games will we see changes," she said - I don't think we can legally control this behavior," the psychologist concluded.