Self-reported campus alcohol policy and college alcohol consumption: a multilevel analysis of 4592 Korean students from 82 colleges

Individual and Contextual Characteristics Associated With Alcohol Use Among Brazilian Adolescents

Objective: To analyze the association between individual and contextual characteristics with alcohol indicators of experimentation, use in the last 30 days and drunkenness in Brazilian adolescents.

Methods: Cross-sectional study based on data from 100,914 student attending 9^th grade from the 2015 National School Health Survey. Multilevel logistic regression models were performed for the outcomes: alcohol experimentation; use in the last 30 days and drunkenness; and exposures, adjusted for adolescents’ sociodemographic characteristics.

Results: Girls were more likely to experiment alcohol (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.05–1.12), use it in the last 30 days (OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.00–1.13) and less prone to drunkenness (OR = 0.90; 95% CI = 0.87–0.93). A higher proportion of public-school students reported drinking. There was a positive association of substance use by parents, peers and the adolescents themselves with the outcomes. Having a policy of banning alcohol consumption at school was associated with a greater chance of alcohol experimentation in public schools.

Conclusion: Exposure to legal and illegal substances by friends, family members and a prohibitive school environment favored the outcomes.

A Social Ecological Approach to Hazardous Alcohol Use among Flemish Higher Education Students

Hazardous use of alcohol is a global public health concern. Statistics suggest that this is particularly common in Europe, and among higher education students. Although it has been established that various factors—ranging from the individual to the overarching societal level—are associated with misuse of alcohol, few studies take multiple levels of influence into account simultaneously. The current study, therefore, used a social ecological framework to explore associations between variables from multiple levels of influence and the hazardous use of alcohol. Data were obtained from a representative sample of higher education students from Flanders, Belgium (n = 21,854), and explored using hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The results demonstrated that the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy levels, were all associated with risky alcohol consumption. When devising interventions, policymakers should, therefore, take into consideration that variables from multiple levels of influence are at play. Students’ capacities to change or maintain their alcohol consumption behaviors may be undermined if social settings, overarching environments, social norms, and policies are not conducive to their motivations and social expectations.

Associations between Gender, Alcohol Use and Negative Consequences among Korean College Students: A National Study

This study examines Korean college students’ rates and the severity of various negative consequences resulting from the frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption and the unique factors that are affecting this problem in the Korean context in comparison to other countries. It assesses how much gender, age and other associated respondent characteristics mediate alcohol use and the resulting negative consequences among the population. A stratified representative sample of 4803 valid student respondents attending 82 colleges participated in the alcohol consumption survey, of which 95% reported drinking in past 12 months. Drinking is measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) screening tool. Based on this test, composite scores for each participant were computed and students were grouped into four risk groups: (a) nondrinkers, (b) light drinkers, (c) moderate drinkers and (d) heavy drinkers. Outcome measures include 21 validated items evaluating self-reported alcohol-related negative consequences. Rates of negative consequences are reported for each drinking risk group stratified by gender. Descriptive statistics, stepwise regression, multivariate linear regression and MANOVA tests were used to analyze the data. The study found that female respondents in the sample who consumed alcohol in the past 12 months drank 11.5 percent less than males (AUDIT-C score μ = 6.0 and 6.7, respectively), and there was a greater proportion of females (5.1 percent) who were nondrinkers than males (4.6 percent). Yet, when females drank, they experienced 11.8 percent more negative consequences on average than males (μ = 1.9 and 1.7, respectively). The study attempts to explain this apparent contradiction. The self-reported rates for many individual negative consequences also varied discernibly by gender. The study concludes with suggestions for how alcohol prevention on Korean college campuses would benefit from targeting females and males differently.