Nearly one in five Americans lived with an alcoholic parent while they were growing up, according to research.

And the National Association for Children of Alcoholics reports that many of these children will be susceptible to becoming the one in eight Americans who has a drinking problem.

Oftentimes, problems with alcohol begin showing themselves during college years. But college officials in the New River Valley are trying to fight it.

“People who have a parent or grandparent with alcoholism or people who have high tolerance are four times more likely to become an alcoholic, if they drink, than a person with no family history,” said Michael McGee, coordinator of Radford University’s Aware Program.

RU Aware is an educational, intervention program for students who have committed alcohol- or drug-related offenses on or off campus.

The program’s goal is to reduce the risk for any alcohol- or drug-related problems.

“College students who cut their drinking to one day a week have been shown to reduce problems by 50 percent,” McGee said.

Students should discuss hereditary alcoholism with their family or a counselor to make sure they are not on the same path, he said.

Even with the RU Aware program, some medical staff at the university would like to see students get even more information and programs to combat substance abuse.

“No, I do not think there is enough information out there for the general public,” said Judy Cox, a doctor at RU’s student health center.

Cox said information about hereditary alcoholism should be more available and that “all children of known alcoholics should seek help.”

A 2002 study by the Harvard School ofPublic Health found that “6 percent of college students meet criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence (also referred to as alcoholism), and 31 percent meet the clinical criteria for alcohol abuse.”

The Harvard study also revealed that about one in 10 college men younger than 24 was diagnosed after 12 months with alcohol dependence, while one in 20 college women showed dependency.

Chemical dependency, as defined by the American Medical Association is when “the continued use of alcohol or other drugs is causing and continuing a significant disruption in an individual’s personal, social, spiritual, physical or economic life and the person does not stop using alcohol or other drugs.”

Unfortunately, some students understand this relationship to alcohol far too well, and their family’s history with alcohol hasn’t helped.

“I knew it was in the family, and I did it [drank] just to do it,” said Radford senior Michael Brake. “But when I got to college is when the drinking every day came in.”

Brake suggests that Radford University incorporate information about alcoholism into the University 100 class, which most freshmen take.

“I don’t think that they [college students] are aware at all,” he said.

Even while pushing for more education, Brake said he doubts college students will actually listen to information about alcoholism.

“Peer pressure is a large reason for drinking at college,” he said.

RU senior Christian Benedi examined the issue based on his family’s history of alcoholism and his own drinking habits.

“I do believe an awareness campaign might do some good, but it’s not like students don’t know the dangers of hereditary alcoholism,” he said.

There are about 26.8 million children of alcoholics in the United States alone, according to NACoA. Approximately 76 million Americans have a history of alcoholism in their family, which is almost 43 percent of the adult population.

A young person’s alcoholic tendencies are most likely to arise in a college atmosphere, and almost 67 percent of 2004 high school graduates enrolled in college the following fall, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As the National Association for Children of Alcoholics reports, “Alcohol expectancies appear to be one of the mechanisms explaining the relationship between paternal alcoholism and heavy drinking among offspring during college.”

Alecia Mikrut, Bobby Shoemaker and Jacqui Sweigart, seniors at Radford University, wrote this story for their specialized reporting class.