College brings many sources of new stress for students. As well as keeping up with their studies, coping with new financial arrangements and making a new circle of friends, students may be living away from home for the first time. The CASA study noted the most common reason students gave for using alcohol or drugs was it helped them relax and forget about their problems.
Drugs and alcohol are widely available on many campuses, and some students accept that substance abuse is an inevitable part of their experience. ''College is almost meant for that," says one student quoted in the New York Times. "Get good grades, but have a really good time because after that, you have to deal with the real world.'' To avoid standing out, many students experiment with drugs and alcohol during their college years.
There is a genetic link for addiction in families. Although external factors play a bigger part in whether a student tries drugs or alcohol for the first time, the abuse is more likely to become a serious problem if other members of the family have addiction issues. For example, CASA's 2007 report highlights the findings of a national study conducted among college students: of the 10 percent that reported having a parent with a drinking problem, 23 percent of those students met diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy states that nationally, the abuse of prescription drugs is now second only to marijuana use. Abuse of this type is a growing problem in colleges: students hope to boost their academic performance taking drugs like dextroamphetamine, methylphenidate and oxycodone, often having obtained them from other students who have had them legitimately prescribed.
In their report, "Wasting the Brightest and the Best," CASA researchers noted that students who experienced even minor forms of mental illness --- like mild depression --- before arriving on campus are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol at college.