Alcohol-use patterns in young university students in Finland.

OBJECTIVE

To obtain descriptive data on the alcohol-use patterns and the factors affecting them among Finnish first-year university students.

DESIGN

Cross sectional survey with a self-administered questionnaire.

SETTING

Finnish first-year university students.

PARTICIPANTS

3,836 students during the academic year 1989/90. The participation rate was 73.7% for female and 53.6% for male students.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Frequency of drinking alcohol, heavy drinking, and drinking for intoxication, average alcohol consumption.

RESULTS

The mean alcohol consumption for female students was 2.6 kg and for male students 6.5 kg of pure alcohol per year. 6.5% of the female students and 5.1 of the male students were abstainers. The heaviest drinking 10% consumed 42% of all consumed alcohol. 4.9% of the female students reported a consumption of at least 10 kg of pure alcohol per year and 11.7% of male students reported a consumption of at least 15 kg. The median for the frequency of drinking was every second week for the females and once a week for the males. Furthermore, drinking for intoxication was more frequent among the male than the female students.

CONCLUSION

Male students have a higher alcohol consumption, drink more frequently, and are more often intoxicated than female students.