Alcohol Use by Students at an Emerging University in South Africa

An Exploratory Study of the Relationship between Alcohol Use and Sexual Risk Behaviour among Students at the University of Kwazulu-Natal

“…A study found that students who engaged in one type of risk behaviour were prone to indulging in other types [7]. This study is in agreement with studies that reported that male and female students who engage in sexual intercourse after using alcohol were likely to engage in unprotected sex [11,18]. Therefore, failure to use condoms consistently, engaging in multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships expose students to the risk of HIV infection.…”

“…This can be attributed to sudden independence from parental monitoring students experience when they join university. In addition, literature review attributed the association between rural residence of students' childhood and inconsistent condom use to students'' sudden exposure to both active and liberal urban settings [11,20,21]. Previous studies also show that relocating to an urban university setting such as Durban city from rural upbringing such as Nongoma in KwaZuluNatal influenced their sexual behaviour [9,18].…”

“…Students who drunk heavily were more likely to engage multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships when they were compared to students who did not drink heavily [11,12]. Literature also shows that young people with severe mental illness who engaged in sexual risk behaviour in the past twelve months were more likely to have an alcohol disorder than were participants who did engage in sexual risk behaviour [11]. Other studies associate a history of problem drinking to treatment for sexually transmitted diseases [13] and that alcoholics in treatment are more likely to engage in sexual risk behaviour than the general population [11,14].…”

“…Students who drunk heavily were more likely to engage multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships when they were compared to students who did not drink heavily [11,12]. Literature also shows that young people with severe mental illness who engaged in sexual risk behaviour in the past twelve months were more likely to have an alcohol disorder than were participants who did engage in sexual risk behaviour [11].…”

Socio-demographic insights into South African student drinking behaviour

“…The student respondents are not isolated in their unhealthy drinking behaviour as a global pattern of similarly high levels of hazardous, harmful and binge drinking behaviour among university students is evident in the literature (Kypri et al 2002;Kypri et al 2009;Webb et al 1996). Moreover, research at other South African universities suggests that students exhibit similar unhealthy and dangerous drinking patterns which classify their drinking behaviour as a public health concern (Mogotsi et al 2014;Young and De Klerk 2008).…”