Problem drinking among university students in Berlin

Abstract

Objective

Problem-drinking among university students is common and poses serious health-related risks. Therefore, identifying and addressing associated factors is important.

Participants and methods

A large cross-sectional online-survey with 12,914 university students from Berlin was conducted from November 2016 to August 2017. Relative-risk- and correlation-analysis was used to identify factors associated with problem-drinking and regular heavy-drinking. Independent t-tests compared impulsivity and personality traits, chi-square-tests compared drinking motives between risk- and non-risk-drinkers.

Results

Male gender, tobacco-smoking, illegal substance use, impulsivity and various sociodemographic and psychosocial variables were significantly related to problem/heavy-drinking. Extraversion was a risk, conscientiousness and agreeableness were protective factors. Drinking-motives did not differ significantly between risk- and non-risk-drinkers. Generally, the main drinking-motives were to feel elated, relax and social purposes.

Conclusion

The identified markers and related problem behaviors may serve as a tool to enhance the identification of student subgroups at risk for problem/heavy-drinking, and hence improve targeted health-intervention-programs.

Keywords:

• Alcohol
• addiction
• mental health
• substance use
• youth

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, and received approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Data availability statement

Data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.