Abstract

The topic of alcohol consumption among young people is not a new one. In this paper we investigated the chemical and behavioral effects of alcohol consumption. It belongs to an area of research of plethora of psychologists, sociologists, teachers, etc. There are some differences depending on the country of origin, yet this problem has not been resolved. The research was conducted on 480 Slovak college students having used the modified Engs´ Student Alcohol Questionnaire (SAQ). The MANCOVA data evaluation method with emphasis on the age as a covariate and Pearson´s product moment were used. The focus is on the gender, year of study, gross grade average, religion, field of study and orientation on knowledge and experience of alcohol. The year of study is insignificant in effecting the experience of alcohol among students while the effect of other categorical variables turn out to be significant. The gender and year of study have a significant influence on students’ knowledge of alcohol.

INTRODUCTION

Drinking and alcohol abuse is a widespread problem of the society worldwide. In Slovakia, Central Europe, it is common to drink alcohol for many reasons and opportunities. Young people build the habits and social issues in their early age. Drinking among college students has traditionally been a part of the college experience (Black et al., 2004). College students belong to a risk group due to being away from home, family and longstanding friendships as well as them going through a phase of vulnerability in a new environment characterized by considerable peer influence and often aggressive promotion of alcoholic beverages (Karam, Kypros & Salamoun, 2007). Chen & Feeley (2015) claim students with more favorable attitude toward drinking and less perceived control of drinking are associated with drinking more alcohol together with students with higher stress engaged. Landry et al. (2014) focusing on the relationship between alcohol use and protective behavioral strategies. The authors found women who used the fewest protective behavioral strategies reported the highest levels of alcohol consumption and harmful drinking patterns. Protective behavi ...