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Student alcohol consumption: Patterns and web-based interventions

First published: 10 May 2019 | Last updated: 10 June 2019

Unhealthy alcohol use amongst students is a major health concern. The alcohol consumption of university (i.e. college) students in the USA has been extensively studied. However information on the drinking patterns of students from the UK, and Europe in general, has been less extensively investigated. Therefore we aimed to conduct a series of studies that would investigate the alcohol consumption of UK students. The first study collected data from two cohorts of students over their course of study at a UK university. These findings suggested that student weekly alcohol consumption declined over their degree course but that levels of consumption remained high for a substantial number of students. The second study investigated students’ drinking patterns over the last week. Latent class analysis revealed distinct patterns of consumption. Encouragingly many students had consumption patterns which included either alcohol free or low-alcohol intake days. However the consistently high level of daily consumption by some students was of particular concern. The third study, a randomised control trial, investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of a social norms and personalised feedback web-based intervention for alcohol misuse. The majority of students reported that the feedback provided was useful and the brief intervention was effective in reducing alcohol consumption per occasion. These studies highlight the heterogeneous nature of drinking behaviour within the student population. It is important to note that while some students are drinking at harmful levels, the population also includes a sizeable number (≈10%) of non-drinkers. The finding that a web-based intervention utilising social norms feedback is effective is encouraging especially as this mode of delivery can provide students with tailored feedback without being labour or resource intensive.

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Dr Bridgette Bewick

Associate Professor, University of Leeds


Dr Bridgette Bewick, Associate Professor at University of Leeds, has a track record of high quality publications that have aided our understanding of the drinking behaviour of young people and of web-based interventions. She seeks to understand how personalised feedback interventions can help intervene early with individuals who are drinking problematically. Bridgette’s work has increased our understanding of drinking behaviour and she has led the development of an effective behaviour change electronic screening and brief intervention tool (www.unitcheck.co.uk). The development and evaluation of Unitcheck means universities now have a resource that enables their students to receive feedback that is associated with reductions in alcohol use. More recently Bridgette has used her expertise in generating effective personalised feedback, in collaboration with the Leeds Addiction Unit, to develop an online intervention for client-centred screening and self-referral by problem drinkers recently admitted to hospital (www. ChangeDrinking.com); the website structure and content are modelled on motivational dialogue. Bridgette’s substantial contribution to research and practice in the addictions field was recognised in 2012 by her being awarded the ‘SSA Fred Yates Prize Researcher of the Year’. Bridgette is a world expert on the use of the Social Norms Approach and has a particular interest in the ability for engagement with personalised feedback to be encouraged by embedding the social norms approach in prevention and early intervention message development and implementation strategy. Bridgette continues to develop ways for e-health solutions to support dissemination of tools that enable individuals to consider their own drinking behaviour and think through their potential to change.

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