Abstract

A STUDY ON DRINKING MOTIVES AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS IN CHENNAI CITY-A CROSS SECTIONAL EXPLORATORY SURVEYAuthor Gururajan Mohan, MPHIL SOCIOLOGY ,PUDUCHERRYEmail-murse4u.guru@gmail.comAbstractPurposeIn India, drinking seems to be a male habit and considered to be a major public health issue. Drinking among college students continues to be a considerable problem College students often face novel social situations in a context of heightened accessibility to alcohol and frequent promotion of excessive drinking Ham and Hope, 2003 .Excessive drinking among college students is associated with damaged property, poor class attendance, hangovers, trouble with authorities, and injuries Wechsler et al., 2000 Wechsler, Davenport, Dowdall, Moeykens, andCastillo, 1994 . Alcohol consumption is prevalent among college students, and there are many reasons for its use and abuse Luhtanen and Crocker, 2005 . However, for successful efforts to limit premature and excessive drinking among adolescents it is necessary to understand the antecedents and etiology of drinking behavior.In this regard, the motivation for engaging in drinking is one importantaspect.ObjectivesThe study carries following objectives To identify the drinking motives among the male college students in the Metro-politan City To identify academic performance among male college students in Metro-politan city To compare the level of drinking motive with demographic variable MethodologyA cross sectional exploratory descriptive design was used in this study. In this present study, data were collected from 74 students studying in three colleges in Chennai. Students from each college were chosen on purposive sampling from three colleges were included in this study. The Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised DMQ-R Cooper,1994 was used to assess principal reasons for alcohol use. This 20-item, four-factor measure assesses enhancement e.g., "because it gives you a pleasant feeling" , social e.g., "to celebrate a special occasion with friends" ,conformity e.g., "to fit in with a group you like" , and coping e.g., "to forget about your problems" motives for drinking. Participants indicate on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 almost never never to 5 almost always always the frequency with which they drink for each reason. Subscale scores are thencomputed by averaging the ratings across each of the five items related to each factor. The DMQ-R evidences good internal consistency e.g., _s _ .91, 91, .79, .81 for enhancement, social, conformity, and coping, respectively in the present sample , and validity, and has been successfully utilized in priorresearch with adolescents Comeau, Stewart, and Loba, 2001 Dixon, Leen-Feldner, Ham, Feldner, and Lewis, 2009 Kuntsche et al., 2008 .Results MAJOR FINDINGS 18-20 age group n=47 had more drinking problems compared to other age groups 43.2 percent students who drinks alcohol belongs to 701-900 marks category39.2 percent of samples who drinks belong to first order of birthMajority of students 91.9 percent lived with parent during data collection Social motive and coping motive were the top motives for the alcohol consumption followed by enhancement and confirmatory drinkNone of the demographic variable had association with the drinking motivesConclusion Our findings strongly support motivational approaches to understanding problem drinking among college students and are consistent with previous research in showing drinking motives to be a crucial determinant of college student drinking. Enhancement, coping and confirmatory motive seemed to bethe most important factor in Chennai students drinking behavior.These findings have several implications for public health research and interventions. There is need for a continued focus on individual Enhancement, coping and confirmatory motive reasons for drinking in adolescents and young adults in substance use prevention programs. Alcohol motives are likely to havebeen shaped by other indirect and distal forces such as availability and the media. For example, television scenes that glamorize its use or incorporate strong symbolic meaning, such as rebellion against prejudice, while featuring alcohol may cause young people to initiate and continue drinking. Research that offers a better understanding of psycho-social and environmental factors associated with alcohol use behavior among the younger population in Chennai is urgently needed. Gururajan Mohan "A Study on Drinking Motives Among College Students in Chennai City-A Cross Sectional Exploratory Survey" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-3 | Issue-1 , December 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd18999.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/social-science/18999/a-study-on-drinking-motives-among-college-students-in-chennai-city-a-cross-sectional-exploratory-survey/gururajan-mohan

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