Assessing the Effects of Alcohol Consumption on the Psychological State Of CAS-UPM Students: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

While light to moderate drinking might have benefits such as reducing stress, increase in happiness, affective expression, cognitive performance; decrease in tension, depression, and self-consciousness (Baum-baicker,1985b), heavy drinking is associated with problems with psychological state (Geisnet et al, 2012, Seather, 2019, Tembo et al., 2017). The effects of levels of alcohol consumption on mental health is a well-studied topic in countries such as Australia (Tembo et al., 2017), United States (Geisner et al., 2012), England, Northern Ireland (Ansari et al., 2013), and other Western countries; but there has yet to be a study set in the Philippines that examines the relationship between these variables. The main objective of this study is to assess the effects of alcohol consumption on the psychological state of CAS-UPM students and how these are mediated by socio-demographic factors. Survey data were collected from 245 CAS-UPM undergraduate students and interview data were collected from 16 interview participants. Chi-square test for association was conducted to see the association of levels of alcohol consumption with levels of psychological distress and socio-demographic variables. Results have shown that the levels of alcohol consumption of CAS-UPM students are not associated with any levels of psychological distress. The test for socio-demographic variables have shown that only the department where the student belongs was the only one associated with different levels of alcohol consumption. Interview data have shown that the participants in the low and moderate alcohol consumption mostly drink for social reasons and that they never had any problems with alcohol or had an effect on their psychological state. However, participants in the high level of alcohol consumption experience severe psychological distress since they use alcohol to forget their problems. On most participants, alcohol drinking provided more positive effect than negative effect. The refraining factor that prevents them from drinking too much is the influence of friends and their families, and the general knowledge about the negative effects of binge drinking. Other factors that affect the students in having a severe psychological state include academics, personal problems, and family issues.