Alcohol use in relation to religiosity and familial support among female students

Sima Afrashteh,1,* Haleh ghaem,2 Abbas abbasi-ghahramanloo,3 Sadegh kargarian-marvasti,4

1. Msc of Epidemiology, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran
2. Research Center for Health Sciences, Institute of Health, Department of Epidemiology, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
3. Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
4. Msc of Epidemiology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Introduction

Alcohol is the number one toxic substance consumed by people of all age groups, which makes its use a public health problem. college female students are often face independent living and academic challenges that may increase the risk of alcohol abuse. this study, therefore aimed to determine the prevalence of alcohol use and related factors among the female students of bushehr

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016. the randomly selected sample consisted of 573 female university students. data were collected in a survey. a self-administered questionnaire was used to measure alcohol use, cigarette and hookah smoking, sexual behavior and illicit drug use, religious belief, and parental support.

Results

The lifetime, last-year and last-month prevalence of alcohol use was 6.1%, 2.3% and 1.7% respectively. the mean age of the first time of use of alcohol in students who had a history of alcohol consumption during their lifetime was 17.77 ± 3.34 years. after adjusting for other factors cigarette smoking in the last month (or=6.38), hookah use in the last year (or=4.02), having unsafe sex lifetime (or=4.05), alcohol use among friends (or=4.82) and lifetime illicit drug use (or=4.23) were risk factors but score of religious beliefs (or = 0.96) was a protective factor of alcohol use in student.

Conclusion

Al alcohol consumption prevalence was relatively high among female university students in bushehr. the findings of this research can be used for planning and evaluating interventions by considering risk and protective factors. higher level of religiosity may serve as a preventivfactor in engaging in alcohol use

Keywords

Alcohol, parental support, religiosity, iran