Jihyun Moon,Jihyun Moon1, Songwhi Noh1, Yeji Youn2, Yuri Kim1, Eun Kang3, Jina Choo1,4

College of Nursing, Korea University, Seoul, Korea 2Department of Nursing, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea 3Department of Nursing, Korea University Anam Hospital, Seoul, Korea 4Transdisciplinary Major in Learning Health Systems, Department of Health Sciences, Korea University Graduate School, Seoul, Korea


Background: University students have been known as having a higher rate of problem drinking than the general population in South Korea. In particular, the university freshmen may experience problem drinking from in- creased occasions of frequent social gatherings at the first school year as they have increased time to freely use compared to the high school days. Problem drinking among university freshmen may be influenced by mul- tiple factors. The present study aimed to examine the prevalence of problem drinking and to identify individual- and family-level factors associated with university freshmen's problem drinking.
Methods: A cross-sectional, correlation study was conducted. Participants were 227 university freshmen (70 men and 157 women) under the parenting of mother and father from 10 universities in Seoul. The problem drinking was evaluated by using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test. Alcohol Abstinence Self-Efficacy Scale and Parental Authority Questionnaire for parenting behaviors were used.
Results: The prevalence of problem drinking was 58.6% among university freshmen. An individual-level factor of alcohol abstinence self-efficacy was significantly associated with the prevalence of problem drinking (odds ratio, 0.94; 95% confidence interval, 0.91-0.96) among university freshmen. However, any of family-level fac- tors including types of parenting behaviors were not significantly associated with the prevalence of problem drinking.
Conclusions: Alcohol abstinence self-efficacy may be a strong protective factor against university freshmen's problem drinking. University-based alcohol abstinence programs should comprise of nursing strategies includ- ing the enhancement of abstinence self-efficacy at the first school year.