Excessive alcohol consumption and binge drinking in college students

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Addiction Medicine
• Psychology

Background:

• Binge drinking (BD) is a prevalent pattern of excessive alcohol consumption, particularly among young adults and university students.
• Excessive alcohol consumption encompasses risky use, harmful use, and alcohol dependence, now classified under alcohol use disorder (AUD) in DSM-5.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate excessive alcohol consumption among university students.
• To investigate the relationship between binge drinking and various levels of alcohol use disorder in this population.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study was conducted with 142 university students (aged 18-30) in northern Spain.
• Sociodemographic and alcohol use data were collected via a semi-structured questionnaire.
• The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) was used to assess excessive alcohol consumption.

Main Results:

• 38.03% of participants were classified as binge drinkers (BD).
• BD participants showed significantly higher rates of risky drinking (66.67% vs. 14.77%), harmful alcohol use/probable dependence (24.07% vs. 3.41%), and AUD (42.59% vs. 5.68%) compared to non-BD participants.
• Significant differences were observed in all AUDIT items, total scores, and domain scores between BD and non-BD groups.

Conclusions:

• Excessive alcohol consumption is highly prevalent among university students.
• Binge drinking is strongly associated with higher levels of problematic alcohol use, including risky, harmful, and dependent patterns.