https://doi.org/10.33698/NRF0282-Kamal Kumar, Sunita Sharma, Karobi Das, Abhishek Ghosh
ABSTRACT:
Introduction: Alcohol use is common among the college students. College students drink alcohol for various reasons like curiosity, peer acceptance, feeling condent, and lack of knowledge related to alcohol use and its effect etc. Need was felt to assess the alcohol use pattern among the college students. Objectives: To estimate prevalence of alcohol use among undergraduate college students of Chandigarh. Materials and Methods: Present study was conducted on the undergraduate (B.Sc, B.A and B.Com) students of two reputed colleges of Chandigarh between the age group of 18-22 years in Aug-Sep, 2018. Descriptive research design was utilized in the present study. Colleges were selected by convenient sampling. Total enumeration sampling technique was used to enroll the students for screening. Those who were less than 18 years or more than 22 years of age and who were not willing to participate were excluded from the study. Total 793 students were screened for alcohol use. Questionnaire to collect Socio-demographic prole and Alcohol use prole of the students were used as data collection instruments in the present study. Responses of the participants were obtained by distributing self report questionnaire related to socio-demographic data and Alcohol prole and collected after half an hour. Data was analyzed by SPSS 20 version by using descriptive statistics and presented in tabular form. Results: Lifetime prevalence of alcohol use was 24.1% among the college students, with lifetime prevalence of 30.7% in males and 13.5% in females. Conclusion: Alcohol use is common among the college students; every fourth student had at least one episode of alcohol use in their lifetime.
Keywords : Alcohol prevalence, alcohol use, college students
Address for correspondence
Dr Sunita Sharma Lecturer
National Institute of Nursing Education PGIMER, Chandigarh
Introduction:
Alcohol use is common among the college students; they consume alcohol for the reason of social gathering, status symbol and a means of social interaction. Their drinking behavior is inuenced by their peers. Students have common belief that alcohol helps them to enhance their condence, forget their problems, improves memory, increase concentration and productivity. This lack of knowledge and awareness in addition to other factors such as family history of alcohol use, poor coping, role modeling, socio-economic status, cultural believes, and poor parenting indulge them in risky alcohol use and predisposes them to various alcohol related health problems.1-2
Frequency and amount of alcohol consumption among the college students differ from country to country. In the Carpathian Euro-region 70% of the college students have occasional drinking. One in every seven students have risky alcohol use pattern. Risky alcohol use is signicantly higher among male students compared to female counterparts. Female students from Romania have very small percentage of risky alcohol usage3. In Ireland university students have alarming 66.4% hazardous alcohol consumption; the pattern of hazardous alcohol consumption is similar in both male (65.2%) and female (67.3%) students4. German college students have signicantly higher alcohol consumption (at least once in a week) compared to Chinese students (59.8 vs. 9.0%). Female German students have less frequency of drinking compared to male counterpart5.
Literature shows that in North-India 87.3% Medical college students are non problematic drinkers and 11.1% have harmful and hazardous alcohol use pattern. Family history and type of family have signicant association with the alcohol usage of the students6. Prevalence of alcohol use is 21% among high school students of Kerala. 38.1% students started using alcohol even before the age of 10 years. Nearly 62% of them started using alcohol out of their curiosity and experimentation7. Per capita alcohol consumption is more than doubled in India during 2005 to It was 2.4 litres in 2005 which was increased to 5.7 litres in 2016. It is more among the males i.e. 4.2 litres compared to females 1.5 litres. The binge drinking is also more than 11% which is an alarming situation8-11.
Harmful alcohol use accounts for three million deaths every year, 6 deaths occur every minute due to harmful alcohol use. It causes hundred percent of alcohol use disorders, 18% of suicide, 18% of interpersonal violence, 27% of trafc injuries, 13% of epilepsy, 48% of liver cirrhosis, 26% of mouth cancers, 26% of pancreatitis, 20% of tuberculosis, 11% of colorectal cancer, 5% of breast cancer, 7% of hypertensive heart disease12.
Socioeconomic factors inuence the alcohol use pattern, higher socio-economic background person tends to consume greater amounts of alcohol compared to their counterparts. There is also a strong association between the gender, family history of alcohol use and type of family1-2,13. Hence the need was felt to estimate the prevalence of alcohol use pattern and association of different socio-economic factors with the alcohol use pattern of the college students.
Objectives:
To estimate prevalence of alcohol use among undergraduate college students of Chandigarh ages 18-22 years in different socio-economic groups.
Material and Methods:
A quantitative research approach with descriptive research design was utilized in the present study. The study was conducted in the two reputed colleges of Chandigarh during the month of Aug-Sep, 2018. Colleges were selected by convenient sampling. Undergraduate students (B.Sc, B.A, and B.Com) between 18-22 years of age were enrolled by total enumeration sampling technique. Those who were <18 or>22 years of age and who were not willing to participate were excluded from the study Total 793 students were screened by using Socio-demographic data sheet and Alcohol prole questionnaire. In socio- demographic questionnaire questions related to age, gender, habitat, religion, current living status, total family income was i ncluded. In Alcohol prole questionnaire questions related to Participants history of alcohol use, family history of alcohol use, age of starting alcohol use, who offered alcohol rst time, place of frequent alcohol use, alcohol used in last one year, alcohol bought in last one month, hospitalization related to alcohol use and relationship issues related to alcohol use was included. The tools were prepared and validated from experts in the eld by Delphi rounds. Necessary modications were made. Responses of the participants were obtained by distributing self report questionnaire related to socio- demographic data, Alcohol prole and collected from them after half an hour. The responses were statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics like mean, frequency distribution and percentage by SPSS 20 version and presented in tabular form. Written informed consent was obtained from each participant. Ethical approval was taken from the Institute Ethics Committee, Chandigarh prior to the conduction of study.
Results:
Table 1 depicts the socio-demographic prole of study participants. The mean age of study participants was 18.85±0.89 years. Nearly 62% of the participants were male and 38% were females. One third of (38%)participants were from urban background and 62% were from rural background. Majority of the participants were from Hindu religion (78.1%). More than two third (70.1%) of the participants were from nuclear families whereas 29.9% were from joint families.63.4% participants were residing with their family members whereas 36.6% were staying in the Hostel/PG. Approximately two third (64.6%) of the total participants were from upper middle class, 20.4% from lower middle class, 8.2% from upper lower class a n d o n l y 6 . 8 % w e r e f r o m u p p e r socioeconomic class. 191 students out of 793 had at least one episode of alcohol use in their lifetime. Overall prevalence of lifetime alcohol use was 24.1%. 150 male students out of 489 and 41 female students out of 304 had at least one episode of alcohol use. Data suggest that every fourth college student had used alcohol at least once in their lifetime.
Majority of the students who had used alcohol were from urban background (64.4%), Hindu religion (79.6%), nuclear family background (77.0%), were staying away from family in PG/Hostel and belongs to upper/upper middle class (71.4%). Data also suggest that prevalence of alcohol use was more than double among male students (30.7%) compared to female (13.5%) students. It was thrice (40.7%) more prevalent among urban students compared to rural (13.8%) although prevalence was almost same in Hindu and Non-Hindu students. Prevalence was 1.5 times higher among students of nuclear family (26.4%) compared to joint (18.6%), and those living away from the family in PG/Hostel (29.0)
background compared to those living with family (21.3%). Prevalence was highest among upper class (37.0%) followed by upper middle class (25.8%) and least in the upper lower class (13.8%).
Table 1: Alcohol use pattern among college students as per their socio demographic variables.
| Variables | Total number N=793 | Total number Using
Alcohol n=191* |
(n/N) Prevalence (%) |
| f(%) | f(%) | ||
| Gender
Male Female |
489(61.7)
304(38.3) |
150(78.5)
41(21.5) |
30.7
13.5 |
| Habitat
Urban Rural |
302(38.0)
491(62.0) |
123(64.4)
68(35.6) |
40.7
13.8 |
| Religion
Hindu Non-Hindu |
619(78.1)
174(21.9) |
152(79.6)
39(20.4) |
24.6
22.4 |
| Family type
Nuclear joint Joint family |
556(70.1)
237(29.9) |
147(77.0)
44(23.0) |
26.4
18.6 |
| Current living status
With family Paying guest/Hostel |
503(63.4)
290(36.6) |
72(37.7)
119(62.3) |
21.3
29.0 |
| Socio-economic status
Upper class Upper middle class Lower middle Upper lower class |
54(6.8)
512(64.6) 162(20.4) 65(08.2) |
20(10.5)
132(69.1) 30(15.7) 09(04.7) |
37.0
25.8 18.5 13.8 |
Age of the study participants, Mean ±SD (Yrs)= 18.85±0.894
*191 out of 793 i.e. 24.1% screened students had positive history of alcohol use.
Table 2 shows the alcohol usage prole of the students. Out of 191 students who had used alcohol at least once in their lifetime, 120(62.8%) were having family history of alcohol use. Majority (66%) of the students started using alcohol between the age of 16- 18 years, 24.7%started using alcohol even before attaining the age of 16 years and only 9.4% started using alcohol after attaining legal adult age of 18 years. In two third (62.4%) of the cases rst time alcohol was offered by friends. Majority (60.7%) were using alcohol in club/bar/parties whereas 39.3% were using alcohol in their hostel/PG. Two third (69.1%) of the students consumed alcohol during last one year. 41.9% students bought alcohol in last one month. Only 1.6% reported of having hospitalization related to alcohol use and 14.1% attributed alcohol usage for their relationship issues with friend family or signicant others.
The study found signicant association between students alcohol use with their gender, habitat, and type of family, current living status, socio-economic status and family history of alcohol use. Prevalence of alcohol use is more than double in Male students compared to their counterparts. More than two third of the students had established pattern of alcohol use before joining the college. Prevalence is more among Upper class/Upper middle class (71.4%) compared to lower middle/Lower upper class (28.6%).
Table 2: Alcohol usage profile of the students
N=191*
| Variable | f(%) |
| Family history of alcohol use | 120(62.8) |
| Age (in years) of starting alcohol by participant | |
| <16 | 47(24.6) |
| 16-18 | 126(66.0) |
| >18 | 18(09.4) |
| First time alcohol offered by | |
| Friends | 119(62.4) |
| Family members | 36(18.8) |
| Does not recall | 36(18.8) |
| Place of frequent alcohol use | |
| Hostel/PG | 75(39.3) |
| Club/Bar/Parties | 116(60.7) |
Discussion:
Drinking among the college students has become a ritual that students often see as an integral part of their higher education.
Number of students comes to college with established drinking habits, which is further exacerbated by the college environment. Alcohol consumption is affected by number of factors l ike Gender, Individual perception and knowledge related to alcohol, individual coping, economic factors, cultural factors, availability of alcohol, and policies related to alcohol.
The present study was undertaken with an objective to estimate prevalence of alcohol use among undergraduate college students of Chandigarh ages 18-22 years in different socio-economic groups. This study shows that alcohol is widely used by college students. Every fourth student has consumed alcohol at least once in his lifetime. Overall lifetime prevalence was 24.1%. Males were having signicantly higher prevalence than their counterparts (30.7 vs. 13.5%). Prevalence of alcohol use among college students (mean age 21 ±1.15 years) of Ludhiana, Punjab, was found to be 31.9%. It was signicantly higher among male students compared to female students (49.2 vs. 5.2%)14.
The study found signicant association between students alcohol use with their gender, habitat, and type of family, current living status, socio-economic status and family history of alcohol use. Prevalence of alcohol use is more than double in Male students compared to their counterparts. More than two third of the students had established pattern of alcohol use before joining the college. Prevalence is more among Upper class/Upper middle class (71.4%) compared to lower middle/Lower upper class (28.6%). The ndings of present study are supported by different studies done to assess ‘association between socio-economic factors and alcohol outcome’ which concluded higher alcohol consumption among high socio-economic class compared to lower socio-economic class. The ndings of present study are also supported by WHO report which states that alcohol usage is having multifactorial causation6-7,10.
In the present study nearly 63% students who were using alcohol had family history of alcohol use, which suggest that parental behavior have signicant impact on their alcohol use. This result is supported by a study conducted on two West Coast Universities, which found that 81% students who have used alcohol in last one year had positive family history of alcohol use15.
Present study also suggest that probability of using alcohol is decreased in students as they grow older provided they remain abstain from alcohol till adult age (18 year or more).So increase in alcohol free years of students act as protective factor.The results are supported by a study conducted on university students of Spain in 2018, which was found that prevalence rate of alcohol use were lower among the students who didn’t follow these pattern of consumption till 18 years of age16.
In more than 62% cases rst time alcohol was offered by friends, and almost 100% consumption of alcohol was outside h o m e ( H o s t e l / P G = 3 9 . 3 % , Club/Bar/Parties=60.7%).Similar results were found in the study conducted on college students of Ludhiana which found that three fourth of the students have tried their rst alcohol with their friends14.
So, it is concluded that alcohol consumption among college students have multifactorial causation, Socio Economic Status plays signicant role in the alcohol use pattern of the students. Age, Gender, habitat, Parental imitation by the students and peer group inuence are most important factors which inuences students alcohol use behavior. Early intervention at school level and parental education and sensitization could be helpful in decreasing the prevalence of alcohol use among college students.
This study was limited to assess prevalence of alcohol use pattern among different socioeconomic groups of college students. Longitudinal studies focusing on parental education and sensitization, and using cognitive behavioral therapy on students can be done to assess its effectiveness in the reduction of prevalence and later heath consequences of alcohol use among college students.
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