Abstract
Alcohol has as much effect on our lives as the different taste for foods that people have all of the world. Recently, the interest about drinking habits has increased with the rise in health problems for college students with poor health related behavior. The purpose of this study was to evaluate alcohol consumption, smoking and eating behavior of college students in the Kyungsan area. This survey was administered through questionnaires, and the subjects were 177 male and 189 female college students. The self-administered questionnaire was composed of questions concerning social-demographic factors, general characteristics, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and eating behavior. The data were analyzed by $\chi$$^2$-test and t-test. According to the survey results, almost of all of the survey subjects drank alcohol. The mean alcohol consumption level per day for male students (33.9${\pm}$29.7g) were significantly higher than for the female students (18.5${\pm}$16.5g), and more than 39.6% of the subjects drank alcohol 1-3 days a week. Alcohol consumption changed the students eating habits. Most students had dietary problems such as fast eating, skipping meal and spending too much money on fast food. The survey about eating behavior of the students showed the male students had more problems when compared with female students. Alcohol consumption levels and alcohol dependence showed a significant positive correlation with smoking cigarettes (r=0.386, p＜0.001). The correlation coefficient between alcohol consumption and eating behavior was negatively correlated with skipping meals (r=-0.121, p＜0.001). However, there were significant and positive correlations with overeating when students were depressed (r=0.130, p＜0.05), with eating meals when watching TV or videos (r=0.085) and with spending money on fast food(r=0.235, p＜0.235). The results indicate that health related behaviors of college students in the present study were fairly good. More attention should be given to college students and their habits of skipping meal, alcohol drinking and smoking, and the fairly good students can act as a model for correct dietary behavior so as to improve overall student health.
