Researchers publish article on alcohol consumption among university students

This study is key to raising awareness, preventing and understanding alcohol consumption in students, a scientific validation of an instrument.

The School of Bioethics highlighted the recent publication of the article “Validation of a Questionnaire of Motivations for Moderate and Severe Alcohol Consumption Among College Students”, in which Dr. Abel Lerma, Dr. Claudia Lerma and their co-authors present an innovative evaluation instrument.

This study represents a significant advance in understanding the motivations that lead university students to consume alcohol, facilitating the implementation of more effective and personalized intervention strategies.  

In an interview, Dr. Abel Lerma stressed the relevance of this research, pointing out that one of the main challenges for universities is to guarantee the terminal efficiency, academic performance and well-being of students. Currently, alcohol consumption in the university population constitutes a global public health problem, affecting 50% of students, of which 40% have problematic consumption and up to 8% can be considered alcohol dependent.

In Mexico, the highest alcohol consumption is recorded among young people between 18 and 25 years old, with a prevalence of 47%. This behavior negatively impacts mental health, increasing the risk of depression, anxiety and stress. Factors such as low risk perception, misinformation, academic stress, social pressure, family dysfunction and the use of other substances are closely linked to alcohol consumption. Among the most serious consequences are fights, sexual assaults, decreased academic performance and injuries related to alcohol abuse.  

Dr. Lerma also explained that college students turn to alcohol consumption for a variety of reasons, including improving their social relationships, seeking pleasure, the need to belong to a group, or managing negative emotions. However, traditional prevention strategies have focused primarily on reducing the prevalence of consumption, without specifically addressing the underlying motivations that cause it.

The problem with conventional assessment instruments is that they are designed to measure the severity of alcohol consumption, without analyzing the psychological and social factors that drive it. This study fills that gap by creating a specialized questionnaire that allows for the identification of individual motivations in university students with different levels of consumption.

As a result of the research, two reliable and validated questionnaires have been developed: one aimed at moderate drinkers (10 items) and another for severe drinkers (13 items). Its validation followed a rigorous scientific-methodological process that included the design based on natural semantic networks, qualitative evaluation by experts, pilot tests with 130 students, statistical validation with a sample of 402 university students and a confirmatory statistical validation with 60% of the population studied.

Dr. Lerma emphasized that this process of designing and validating psychometric and clinical instruments is part of his teaching work at the School of Health Sciences within the Master's Degree in Medical Sciences with Specialty in Health Sciences Research. He also highlighted that this research is part of his work as a member of the National System of Researchers (SNI) of the Secretariat of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation (Secihti).

This study opens a new perspective on the prevention and treatment of alcohol consumption in university students, allowing the implementation of more precise intervention strategies adapted to the individual needs of young people. The aim is to reduce problematic consumption and to channel in a timely manner those students who require specialized support.