Problem drinking among university students in Berlin.

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 -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.