Findings from a study at UCC have shown that two-thirds of students in Ireland are drinking a hazardous amount of alcohol every week.
The study looked at the drinking habits of 2,275 undergraduate students in UCC, and found that there were some worrying numbers when it comes to the youth of Ireland and their drinking habits.
66% of students who responded to the questionnaire said that they had consumed alcohol hazardously, with the numbers of men and women split fairly similarly: 65.2% of men and 67.3% of women said that they engaged in unsafe drinking habits at one stage or another.
Even more worryingly, when it came to consumption levels on a regular basis, 17% of men and 5% of women were taking on more than six units of alcohol at least four times a week, with some even reporting that they drank that amount every day.
One of the lead researchers on the project, UCC researcher and PhD candidate Martin Davoren, said that they had wanted to perform the study as the figures had shown that the difference in levels of alcohol consumption between the genders had been narrowing, but there was no reliable data to draw from to prove that in an Irish setting. Speaking to The Irish Times, he said "a decade ago the college lifestyle and attitudinal national survey noted males were drinking more than their female counterparts. We are now seeing women drinking as much as men. This finding is yet another signpost that our relationship with alcohol as a nation is unwholesome and detrimental to health".
He added that the issue should not be strictly confined to students, as these findings impact on everyone, as the study found "hazardous alcohol consumption drastically increased the possibility of adverse consequence", which for the students was anything from missing class leading to poor academic performance, to getting in to a fight.
Via The Irish Times
