Heavy drinking among college students is one of the biggest problems in the United States, and one of the most common misconceptions of many people about college students is that they are engaged to excessive drinking, but a study suggests that this is not always the case.

The research has used the data from the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions for 8,645 non-high school young adults aged 18 to 30 years. In the past year, excessive drinking was defined as 10 or more standard drinks for men and 8 or more standard drinks for women, per occasion, according to Science Daily. Excessive drinking means more than 14 drinks for men per week and more than 7 drinks for women. Also the students who were living away from their parents and those who lived with their parents were compared to the non-students.

The results of the study has shown that being a college student is not necessarily associated to excessive drinking for those who are aged 18 to 30 years old. Although according to NCBI, twenty years of research has found that the highest proportion of the individuals with diagnosable alcohol related disorders are in the age ranged of 90 percent of all enrolled college students, it only holds true for certain ages and student groups.

An example given by the researchers is that most college students are in their early 20's and are living away from home. What the authors speculate is that it is not automatically their status as college students that is related to an increased likelihood to engage in heavy drinking, but rather the absence of demands that will require them to commit, including employment, marriage, family and parenthood.