Motives for alcohol intake amongst North West university students (Mafikeng campus)

Abstract

This study aimed to gain insight into the drinking patterns of North West University students. Data was collected by means of an anonymous self - reporting questionnaire, and cross - sectional design sample consisted of 100 students (50% male and 50% female) at the North West University (Mafikeng Campus). The literature reviewed showed that University students tend to drink alcohol more for coping reasons. Enhancement motives were related to the heaviest of all motivated consumption but not necessarily drinking - related problems. This study also examined various theoretical perspectives on alcohol use, which could provide possible explanation of alcohol use among University students. The Statistical Package for Social Science version 18.0 (SPSS) was used to obtain data analyses that included descriptive statistics and Chi - square analysis, and all procedures were performed at 0.05 level of significance with 95% Confidence interval. The results of the study indicated that there is a statistical significant between gender and enhancement motive with chi-square= 5.086, p-value<0.05. The results further revealed that male students drink alcohol more to feel good about themselves.