Alcohol consumption among university students: applying a social ecological approach for multi-level preventions.

This study investigates factors affecting alcohol consumption among university students through a social ecological approach as a theoretical framework. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 1,200 university students in Bangkok, Thailand. Data were collected by a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis at the 0.05 level of statistical significance were used to analyze the data. The results showed that all 22 independent variables can copredict alcohol consumption among university students at 41.2% (Adjusted = 40.1%). However, there were only 13 variables that affected alcohol consumption significantly: gender, age, monthly income, living arrangement, attitude toward alcohol use, perceived susceptibility of alcohol use, perceived self-efficacy, peer drinking, relatives drinking, accessibility of alcohol around university, accessibility of alcohol around community, exposure to anti-alcohol campaign, and exposure to alcohol advertising. The findings suggested that alcohol consumption was not only affected by the individual-level factor, but it was also affected by multi-level environmental factors, including interpersonal-level, institutional-level, community-level, and societal-level factors. Consequently, multi-level preventions should be urgently considered to prevent alcohol use among university students in Thailand.