Some authorities think one reason college students engage in so-called binge drinking is that they believe it is more widespread than it really is.
And so to combat the problem, some college officials have tried what they call the ''social norm'' approach: education campaigns telling students that abusive drinking is less common than they may believe.
A new study suggests, however, that students have a very accurate idea about how often binge drinking takes place, and that they even tend to underestimate it a bit. The report, based on a survey of 14,138 students at 119 colleges, appears in the current issue of The Journal of American College Health.
The students estimated that about 35 percent of undergraduates binge, close to the 44 percent rate that researchers have found nationally.
Although the study casts doubt on the social-norm approach, its principal author, Dr. Henry Wechsler of the Harvard School of Public Health, said that did not mean enforcement was the only answer.