title: Cross-cultural patterns in college student drinking and its consequences--a comparison between the USA and Sweden.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to compare alcohol use, consequences and common risk factors between American and Swedish college students.
  
  
  METHODS
  A secondary comparative analysis from one American and two Swedish studies in college settings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Swedish freshmen report higher alcohol use than US freshmen students. Swedish residence hall students report higher alcohol use than US residence hall students, but lower than American fraternity/sorority members. US students were less likely to be drinkers. Controlling for age, country moderated the relationship between family history and harmful drinking scores for women (stronger in the USA), and between expectancies and harmful drinking scores for men (stronger in Sweden), though in both cases this represented a small effect and patterns were similar overall.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Swedish students are at higher risk for alcohol use than US students, but similar patterns between aetiological predictors and outcomes in both countries suggest that research from the USA is generalizable to Swedish students and vice versa. More research is needed to better understand unique relationships associated with age and family history.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Alcohol Research, Entrance 108, UMAS, SE-205 02 Malmö, Sweden. henrietta.stahlbrandt@med.lu.se
authors.forename: Henriettae
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ståhlbrandt
authors.forename: Claes
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Kent O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Johnsson
authors.forename: Sean J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Tollison
authors.forename: Mats
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berglund
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Larimer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D000431:Ethanol / Q000506:poisoning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D012309:Risk-Taking; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D013548:Sweden / Q000208:ethnology; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol