Cross-cultural patterns in college student drinking and its consequences--a comparison between the USA and Sweden.
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.
Ståhlbrandt
Henriettae
H
Department of Clinical Alcohol Research, Entrance 108, UMAS, SE-205 02 Malmö, Sweden. henrietta.stahlbrandt@med.lu.se
Andersson
Claes
C
Johnsson
Kent O
KO
Tollison
Sean J
SJ
Berglund
Mats
M
Larimer
Mary E
ME
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
D000431:Ethanol