ISRAELI COLLEGE-STUDENT ALCOHOL-USE - THE ASSOCIATION OF BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS AND REGULAR DRINKING PATTERNS

In Israel, there is a lack of research regarding the association betwe en background characteristics of university students and their use of alcohol. In response, a cohort of 1276 male and female undergraduate s tudents was surveyed at a major university in the country. Among the s tudy participants, 21% (270) reported regular, weekly use of alcohol. Men were much more inclined to drink on a weekly basis than women; and , 7% of the students who used alcohol regularly did so on a daily basi s. Approximately 70% of the students who used alcohol drank in the com pany of friends; and, one-third of the alcohol using students reported that it was important to have their friends with them when they used the substance. Student background characteristics found to be associat ed with weekly alcohol use included: gender, age, country of origin, e conomic status, academic discipline, father's level of education, and parents' use of alcohol and legal medication. An important finding of this study was that 30% of the students who used alcohol reported driv ing a car after drinking and 3% of this sub-population drank while dri ving. Alcohol tends to be used and abused more than any other licit or illicit substance among Israeli university students. This issue, howe ver, receives far less attention than illicit drug use in terms of edu cation, public awareness, prevention and treatment activities. Alcohol use and abuse among university students in Israel is far from the maj or problem found elsewhere. Nevertheless, planned prevention and other forms of intervention are needed on campuses throughout the country.