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ABSTRACT
It has been found that self-esteem is related to alcohol consumption, with the majority of research finding that low self-esteem is associated with high levels of alcohol use and high self-esteem is associated with low levels of alcohol use. The present study examined this relationship among 100 university students aged 18-25 years. Further, gender was compared with two age groups including late adolescence aged 18-21 years and students in early adulthood aged 22-25 years. It was found that men scored higher on self-esteem than women, however, there was no significant difference between the genders attitudes towards alcohol use scores. These findings are discussed in relation to intervention programs.
Key words: alcohol use, attitudes, self-esteem, university students, university intervention
INTRODUCTION
Binge drinking is a form of alcohol abuse and is widely defined as consuming five or more alcoholic drinks for men (Wecshler & Nelson, 2001) and four or more for women on a single occasion (Cranford, McCabe, & Boyd, 2006). In 2009, the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) reported that approximately four in five university students drink alcohol, with about 41% of all university students reported drinking five alcoholic drinks in the previous two weeks, and more than 40% of all university students reported binge drinking in the previous two weeks (NIAAA, 2009; White and Hingson, 2014). According to Bridgwood, Lilly, Thomas, and Bacon (2000), female students are three times more likely to exceed weekly guidelines (14 units per week for men and 14 units per week for women, Drinkaware, 2016) than their peers in the general population. In addition, Heather, Partington, Partington, Longstaff, Allsop et al, (2011) researched alcohol use disorders and hazardous drinking in undergraduate students in English universities between 2007 and 2009. It was found that 61% of the sample (65% men; 58% women) showed indications of hazardous and harmful alcohol use.
Jamison and Myers (2008) found that binge drinking in universities was significantly predicted by their friend's drinking behavior. Research examining the relationship between students and their peers concluded that the reason many students started to binge drink in college was because 'others were doing it' and 'fitting in' was important. (Weitzman, Nelson, & Wechsler, 2003; McBride, Barrett, Moore, & Schonfeld, 2014). Peer exposure has been found...