Washing State University research shows Students at four-year colleges and universities drink nearly twice as much alcohol as their peers in two-year colleges.
On the other hand, students in community colleges and other two-year institutions use marijuana nearly twice as often as four-year students.
In the study, the authors found that, among college students near Seattle, four-year students averaged over seven drinks per week, while two-year students averaged around 3.5 drinks each week.
For marijuana use, two-year students averaged using it on over eight days in the previous month, while four-year students averaged nearly 4.5 days of use.
More research is needed to understand why these differences in alcohol and cannabis use exist, but perceptions of peer use may be one factor. Specifically, four-year students thought their peers drank more than two-year students believed their peers drank, whereas two-year students thought that their peers used cannabis more than four-year students thought their peers did.
