Americans getting drunk in NZ

File Photo / Brett Phibbs

American students who come to New Zealand to study, drink twice as much alcohol than they would at home, University of Washington research has found.

The study found those who went to Europe, Australia or New Zealand drank more heavily while they were abroad than those who went to Asia, Latin America, the Middle East or Africa.

Published in the current issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, the research sought to find out why some students alcohol consumption increases while abroad and what can be done about the problem.

"We hear stories in the media and elsewhere about students going abroad, drinking too much and getting into trouble. But no one has ever measured this risky drinking behaviour and there are no published studies of prevention strategies before they go abroad," said Eric Pedersen, a UW graduate student in psychology.

The research found students doubled how much they drank while they were away, upping their consumption from about four alcoholic drinks per week while at home to about eight drinks per week while they were abroad.

Most of the 177 survey participants were abroad for three to five months. About two weeks before the students left, they completed a pre-departure survey asking how many alcoholic drinks they consumed each week, how much they planned to drink while they were away and what their perceptions were of the drinking habits of others studying abroad. A month after they returned to campus, they completed surveys about how much they drank while abroad and how much they were currently drinking.

When students returned to campus, generally they lessened their alcohol consumption to their pre-trip levels. But those who drank the most while away returned home drinking more heavily than when they left.

"That speaks to how there may be lasting changes in drinking behaviour," Pedersen said.

Pedersen's data also support the idea that students younger than 21, the legal drinking age in the US, take advantage of more relaxed drinking laws abroad. The underage students in his study nearly tripled their drinking, whereas students over 21 doubled their intake of alcohol.

"Students have misperceptions about drinking in different countries," Pedersen said.

For instance, students may think "Germans drink all the time and that's what I'm going to do too," he said.

Pedersen is now looking into how study-abroad students pace their drinking during the week. "Our data generally shows that students drink moderately while abroad, but a subset of students drink more heavily and may begin to experience consequences abroad," he said.

- NZ Herald Staff