Background: Alcohol consumption is widespread in student environments. The objective of the study was to examine alcohol use among students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in a twelve-year perspective.
Material and method: The study is cross-sectional, based on two questionnaire surveys conducted in lecture breaks at NTNU in 2007 and 2019. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. The questionnaire surveyed background variables and alcohol use, and included questions from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). The respondents were categorised into risk profiles based on their results. An AUDIT score of ≥ 8 was used as the threshold value for risky/potentially harmful alcohol use.
Results: The study included 2,247 students: 857 from 2007 and 1,390 from 2019. The proportion of women was 42.3 % in 2007 and 54.9 % in 2019. The average age was 21.5 years (2007) and 22.5 years (2019). The average AUDIT score was 10.7 in 2007 and 8.5 in 2019. A total of 937 students (67.6 %) consumed alcohol two to four times per month or more in 2019, a reduction of 9.8 % from 2007. Altogether 885 students (67.8 %) consumed five or more alcohol units on a typical drinking day in 2019, a reduction of 12.8 % from 2007.
Interpretation: A considerable one-fifth reduction in the proportion of students with risky alcohol use occurred from 2007 to 2019. However, the alcohol use of more than half of the students may still pose a long-term risk.