Saturday night live: chronicity of alcohol consumption among college students.

Through means of a daily diary, alcohol consumption patterns of students at a major metropolitan university were studied. Drinking displayed a weekly pattern which reflected student role demands, but was also influenced by family roles, external events, and fluctuations in academic pressures. There were distinct patterns in both percentage of students drinking and in mean ethanol consumption per drinker. There was also a clear pattern of "binge" drinking in the aftermath of stress. Drinking in the campus context was both quantitatively and qualitatively different from drinking in the family context. Chronographic analysis provides a key to understanding behavior which complements cross-sectional or longitudinal panel analysis.