Differences in alcohol consumption rates between team and individual sports people and peer influences on alcohol consumption

Abstract

Context: Alcohol consumption among university students has been intensively researched but the comparison of team and individual sports alcohol consumption has not been substantially reviewed. Objective: To identify whether there is a relationship or difference in alcohol consumption between team and individual sports students using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test Design/method: An adapted version of the World Health Organisiation (WHO) AUDIT questionnaire. Participants: Fifty eight of 63 participants completed the study. Participants were from a university in Wales and took part in either team or individual sports. Twenty-nine team sports players (Basketball) of whom 18 females, 11 males and 29 individual players (Athletics) of whom 14 females and 15 males. Main outcome measures: Maximum score on the AUDIT questionnaire. Results: The mean AUDIT scores for the participants are 10.78. Male and female participants had no differences between mean AUDIT scores (p = 0.597) (table 2). A difference has been found between team and individual participants AUDIT scores (p = 0.001). Conclusions: The results of this study supported the hypothesis but some of the findings did not. Female team players reported to drink more alcohol than individual females while team males and individual males had similar drinking behaviours.