Alcohol use disorders and associated factors among jimma university main campus undergraduate students, south-west Ethiopia, jimma, 2016

Abstract

Background: Alcohol use among University students is a problem throughout the world. Studies indicate that, alcohol use among adolescents is considerably raising and in particular University students are mostly at risk. Alcohol use among students has an association with poor academic performance, risky sexual behaviors and mental distress. Objective: To assess alcohol use disorders and associated factors among Jimma University main campus students. Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study design was used. Multi stage stratified sampling technique was used to select 796 study participants. Standardized self administered structured questionnaires, Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT), Oslo 3 items social support scale (OSS-3) and Kessler-6 (K6), were used to assess alcohol use disorders, social support and psychological distress. Data was entered to Epi-Data version 3.1 and exported to and analyzed by using SPSS version 21 for windows. Bivariate and multivariable regressions were performed to explore factors independently associated with alcohol use disorders. Variables associated with AUDs and with p-value of less than 0.25 on bivariate analysis were entered together into multivariate logistic regression. Those variables with p-value of <0.05, with 95% CI on multivariable regression was considered as predictors of AUD. Result: A total of 741 students were participated in this study. The prevalence of Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) among Jimma University main campus students was 26.5%. Proportion of participants with social drinking, harmful drinking, hazardous drinking and possible alcohol dependence accounted for 19.6 %( n=145), 16.6% (n=123), 6.3 %( n=47) and 8.0 %( n=59) respectively. Conclusion: The proportion of students who have alcohol use disorders was significantly high. Being male, being in a relationship, married/separated/divorced, having close friend who drink alcohol, having history of mental illness, having history of suicidal attempt and having mental distress were found to be predictors of AUDs on multivariate logistic regression, Therefore, it is recommend that regulatory monitoring on alcohol use and intervention activities to bring behavioral change