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Alcohol-use patterns in young university students in Finland
M Nyström1, J Peräsalo, M Salaspuro
1Finnish Student Health Service, Finland.
Objective:
To obtain descriptive data on the alcohol-use patterns and the factors affecting them among Finnish first-year university students.
Design:
Cross sectional survey with a self-administered questionnaire.
Setting:
Finnish first-year university students.
Participants:
3,836 students during the academic year 1989/90. The participation rate was 73.7% for female and 53.6% for male students.
Main Outcome Measure:
Frequency of drinking alcohol, heavy drinking, and drinking for intoxication, average alcohol consumption.
Results:
The mean alcohol consumption for female students was 2.6 kg and for male students 6.5 kg of pure alcohol per year. 6.5% of the female students and 5.1 of the male students were abstainers. The heaviest drinking 10% consumed 42% of all consumed alcohol. 4.9% of the female students reported a consumption of at least 10 kg of pure alcohol per year and 11.7% of male students reported a consumption of at least 15 kg. The median for the frequency of drinking was every second week for the females and once a week for the males. Furthermore, drinking for intoxication was more frequent among the male than the female students.
Conclusion:
Male students have a higher alcohol consumption, drink more frequently, and are more often intoxicated than female students.