The Epidemiology of Alcohol Consumption and Misuse among Chinese College Students

Aims: To understand alcohol-related risk behaviours among Chinese college students. Methods: As part of the first China National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, undertaken in 2009, 52,150 students at 119 colleges were randomly sampled. Information was obtained from self-administered questionnaires. Results: Prevalences were: lifetime drinkers 80.8%, current drinkers 49.3% (drank alcohol in past 30 days) and binge drinkers 23.5% ('binge drinkers' reporting at least five alcoholic drinks on a single occasion at least six times during the past 30 days). Multinomial logistic analysis revealed the contribution of sociodemographic factors to three high-risk drinking behaviours: odds ratio (95% confidence interval) = 3.64 (2.69–4.60) with frequent drinking; 3.27 (1.82–4.72) with binge drinking; and 5.48 (3.20–7.77) with heavy binge drinking. These three rates were greater among males than females, in the Western more than the Eastern region, among students living off-campus and among those whose mothers had higher education. Heavy drinking was linked to lower academic self-rating. Conclusion: There is a trend towards risky drinking among Chinese college students. Measures such as a minimum drinking age, advertisement restrictions, taxation, drunk-driving penalties and campaigns to heighten public awareness of alcohol-related health risks should be instituted in order to improve the situation on college campuses where alcohol abuse is particularly prevalent.