Cargando…

Changes in undergraduate student alcohol consumption as they progress through university

BACKGROUND: Unhealthy alcohol use amongst university students is a major public health concern. Although previous studies suggest a raised level of consumption amongst the UK student population there is little consistent information available about the pattern of alcohol consumption as they progress...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bewick, Bridgette M, Mulhern, Brendan, Barkham, Michael, Trusler, Karen, Hill, Andrew J, Stiles, William B
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2405793/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18489734
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-8-163
_version_ 1782155654764429312
author Bewick, Bridgette M
Mulhern, Brendan
Barkham, Michael
Trusler, Karen
Hill, Andrew J
Stiles, William B
author_facet Bewick, Bridgette M
Mulhern, Brendan
Barkham, Michael
Trusler, Karen
Hill, Andrew J
Stiles, William B
author_sort Bewick, Bridgette M
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Unhealthy alcohol use amongst university students is a major public health concern. Although previous studies suggest a raised level of consumption amongst the UK student population there is little consistent information available about the pattern of alcohol consumption as they progress through university. The aim of the current research was to describe drinking patterns of UK full-time undergraduate students as they progress through their degree course. METHOD: Data were collected over three years from 5895 undergraduate students who began their studies in either 2000 or 2001. Longitudinal data (i.e. Years 1–3) were available from 225 students. The remaining 5670 students all responded to at least one of the three surveys (Year 1 n = 2843; Year 2 n = 2219; Year 3 n = 1805). RESULTS: Students reported consuming significantly more units of alcohol per week at Year 1 than at Years 2 or 3 of their degree. Male students reported a higher consumption of units of alcohol than their female peers. When alcohol intake was classified using the Royal College of Physicians guidelines [1] there was no difference between male and females students in terms of the percentage exceeding recommended limits. Compared to those who were low level consumers students who reported drinking above low levels at Year 1 had at least 10 times the odds of continuing to consume above low levels at year 3. Students who reported higher levels of drinking were more likely to report that alcohol had a negative impact on their studies, finances and physical health. Consistent with the reduction in units over time students reported lower levels of negative impact during Year 3 when compared to Year 1. CONCLUSION: The current findings suggest that student alcohol consumption declines over their undergraduate studies; however weekly levels of consumption at Year 3 remain high for a substantial number of students. The persistence of high levels of consumption in a large population of students suggests the need for effective preventative and treatment interventions for all year groups.
format Text
id pubmed-2405793
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2008
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-24057932008-05-30 Changes in undergraduate student alcohol consumption as they progress through university Bewick, Bridgette M Mulhern, Brendan Barkham, Michael Trusler, Karen Hill, Andrew J Stiles, William B BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Unhealthy alcohol use amongst university students is a major public health concern. Although previous studies suggest a raised level of consumption amongst the UK student population there is little consistent information available about the pattern of alcohol consumption as they progress through university. The aim of the current research was to describe drinking patterns of UK full-time undergraduate students as they progress through their degree course. METHOD: Data were collected over three years from 5895 undergraduate students who began their studies in either 2000 or 2001. Longitudinal data (i.e. Years 1–3) were available from 225 students. The remaining 5670 students all responded to at least one of the three surveys (Year 1 n = 2843; Year 2 n = 2219; Year 3 n = 1805). RESULTS: Students reported consuming significantly more units of alcohol per week at Year 1 than at Years 2 or 3 of their degree. Male students reported a higher consumption of units of alcohol than their female peers. When alcohol intake was classified using the Royal College of Physicians guidelines [1] there was no difference between male and females students in terms of the percentage exceeding recommended limits. Compared to those who were low level consumers students who reported drinking above low levels at Year 1 had at least 10 times the odds of continuing to consume above low levels at year 3. Students who reported higher levels of drinking were more likely to report that alcohol had a negative impact on their studies, finances and physical health. Consistent with the reduction in units over time students reported lower levels of negative impact during Year 3 when compared to Year 1. CONCLUSION: The current findings suggest that student alcohol consumption declines over their undergraduate studies; however weekly levels of consumption at Year 3 remain high for a substantial number of students. The persistence of high levels of consumption in a large population of students suggests the need for effective preventative and treatment interventions for all year groups. BioMed Central 2008-05-19 /pmc/articles/PMC2405793/ /pubmed/18489734 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-8-163 Text en Copyright © 2008 Bewick et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Bewick, Bridgette M
Mulhern, Brendan
Barkham, Michael
Trusler, Karen
Hill, Andrew J
Stiles, William B
Changes in undergraduate student alcohol consumption as they progress through university
title Changes in undergraduate student alcohol consumption as they progress through university
title_full Changes in undergraduate student alcohol consumption as they progress through university
title_fullStr Changes in undergraduate student alcohol consumption as they progress through university
title_full_unstemmed Changes in undergraduate student alcohol consumption as they progress through university
title_short Changes in undergraduate student alcohol consumption as they progress through university
title_sort changes in undergraduate student alcohol consumption as they progress through university
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2405793/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18489734
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-8-163
work_keys_str_mv AT bewickbridgettem changesinundergraduatestudentalcoholconsumptionastheyprogressthroughuniversity
AT mulhernbrendan changesinundergraduatestudentalcoholconsumptionastheyprogressthroughuniversity
AT barkhammichael changesinundergraduatestudentalcoholconsumptionastheyprogressthroughuniversity
AT truslerkaren changesinundergraduatestudentalcoholconsumptionastheyprogressthroughuniversity
AT hillandrewj changesinundergraduatestudentalcoholconsumptionastheyprogressthroughuniversity
AT stileswilliamb changesinundergraduatestudentalcoholconsumptionastheyprogressthroughuniversity