Alcohol Drinking Among the Students of the University of Maribor, Slovenia

Abstract

BackgroundHazardous and harmful alcohol drinking is an important health, social and economic issue in Slovenia amongst all age groups. While drinking in Slovenia has been well researched amongst elementary and high school students, there is a lack of research on drinking amongst university students.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study among first- and fourth-year students of the University of Maribor, Slovenia, attending the mandatory preventive health check between October 2009 and May 2010. During this health check, they filled in a non-anonymous lifestyle questionnaire. AUDIT–C questionnaire on alcohol use and questions on smoking and illicit drug use were also included.Results3.130 students were included in the analysis, 1219 (38.9%) were males. There were 871 (27.8%) students that were screened as risky drinkers. The highest percentage of risky drinkers attended the Faculty for Wood Technology and the lowest the Faculty for Health Sciences. Students, recognized as healthier by the physicians, reported risky drinking significantly less often (p=0.015). Students with higher BMI reported risky drinking significantly more often (p=0.012). Variables, proved to be independently associated with the risky drinking in the multivariate analysis, were: bad health status (p=0.044), male sex (p<0.001), daily consumption of fried food (p=0.017), smoking (p<0.001), illicit drugs (p<0.001), attending the Faculty for Civil Engineering (p=0.006), not attending the Faculty for Health Sciences (p=0.002)ConclusionsWhile the prevalence of risky drinking among students in this study is high, a structured preventive programme should be implemented for students, which will include also illicit drug use and smoking.

Factors associated with greater potential for alcohol misuse among the students of the Gorenjska region

“…Boys drink more frequently and in larger quantities than girls (Stergar, 2011). These results are in line with the findings of the study conducted among the first and the fourth-year students of the University of Maribor (Kolšek & Klemenc Ketiš, 2015). Alcohol drinking is a perennial problem in the Gorenjska region, widespread among younger as well as older generation.…”

“…The average age of alcohol initiation in Slovenia is 13 years (Inštitut za varovanje zdravja, 2010). Other studies have also established a high percentage of heavy and risky drinking among the students of the University of Ljubljana (Biščak, et al, 2014).…”

“…Alkoholne pijače bolj pogosto uživajo fantje kot dekleta (Stergar, 2011). Enako je tudi raziskava med študenti prvih in četrtih letnikov Univerze v Mariboru podala ugotovitev, da bolj pogosto pijejo moški kot ženske (Kolšek & Klemenc Ketiš, 2015). Alkoholna problematika je prisotna tudi v gorenjski regiji, saj je pitje alkohola razširjeno tako med mladimi kot tudi med odraslimi.…”

“…Povprečni slovenski mladostnik je ob prvem uživanju alkoholne pijače star 13 let (Inštitut za varovanje zdravja, 2010). Ugotovljen visok odstotek tveganega in škodljivega pitja in opijanja je bil tudi med študenti Univerze v Ljubljani (Biščak, et al, 2014).…”

Uživanje alkohola med študenti zdravstvene nege

“…Pitje alkoholnih pijač je dobro raziskano med osnovnošolci in srednješolci, medtem ko je malo podatkov o pitju alkohola med študenti (Kolšek & Klemenc Ketiš, 2015). V Sloveniji je bilo do sedaj izvedenih malo raziskav o uživanju alkohola med študenti zdravstvene nege.…”