A cross-sectional study: prevalence of alcohol consumption, factors associated and it’s effects among undergraduate college students

Background: Alcoholism is gradually tearing down the college students worldwide. This is turning out to be a major social predicament. Alcohol misuse was reported as a strong predictor of students’ mental health. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of alcohol consumption, factors associated with it and its effects among undergraduate students. Methods: Cross-Sectional Survey was applied on 180 undergraduates at Shekhawati PG college, Rajasthan, India, using Stratified random sampling. Structured questionnaire and rating scale were used to collect the data. Result: The finding showed 25.55% prevalence of alcohol consumption with majority of being males (63.04%). Maximum number (47.8 %) of the students started alcohol consumption at18-19 years of age with reasons being: social gathering or marriage party (69.56%), peer pressure and curiosity about the effects of alcohol (13.04%), drinking habit of the parents (6.52%). Majority of the student (65.21%) drink outside the home and at night time (91.30%). Maximum urge (86.95%) was felt for pleasure (93.47 %) on special occasion or party function. Early onset of consumption made students (28.26%) addicted. Maximum students (78.3%) showed mild whereas 21.7% experienced moderate effect of alcohol consumption. Conclusion: The study showed that most common age to start consuming alcohol was between 18-19 years and common reasons to start included ‘social activities’ and ‘peer pressure’ for majority and for a few ‘curiosity’ and ‘family influence’. It becomes incumbent on the government, healthcare practitioners and other stakeholders to promote responsible drinking and discourage premature drinking.