Open J Public Health | Volume 4, Issue 3 | Research Article | Open Access

Lack of Correlation between Depression and Alcohol use Disorder among College Students in Ethiopia

Mohammedamin Hajure^1*, Zakir Abdu¹, Mustefa Mohammedhussein¹, Aman Dule¹ and Mandaras Tariku²

¹Department of Psychiatry, Mettu University, Ethiopia ²Department of Midwifery, Mettu University, Ethiopia

^*Correspondance to: Mohammedamin Hajure 

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Abstract

Background: Prior studies had consistently shown that harmful alcohol use and depression were a common phenomenon among college students and affects them in various ways. Aim: The study assessed correlation between depression and alcohol consumption and probable predictors of alcohol consumption. Method: A cross sectional study was conducted in Mettu polytechnic college with a sample of 310 students. Alcohol consumption was measured using the alcohol use disorder identification test. Multivariable logistic regressions and Chi-square test was used to examine relationships between the variables. Pearson correlation was used to observe the correlation of two variables. All tests were two-tailed and p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: Twenty nine percent of college students, (36.2%) male and (20.7%) female suffered from clinically significant alcohol use disorder. Study showed no significant difference between level of depression and alcohol consumption (r (310) =0.015, p=0.793). After controlling for the potential confounders, age ≤ 23 year and poor social support were found to be independent predictors of alcohol use disorder in the final regression model. Conclusion: Study showed lack of association between depression and alcohol use disorder. However, a substantial proportion of college students were found to drink alcohol at hazardous levels. This finding indicated the need for prompt attention to develop effective intervention strategies which may include prevention policies and educational intervention for college students, their parents and other stakeholders.

Keywords:

Alcohol consumption; Depression; College students

Citation:

Hajure M, Abdu Z, Mohammedhussein M, Dule A, Tariku M. Lack of Correlation between Depression and Alcohol use Disorder among College Students in Ethiopia. Open J Public Health. 2022;4(3):1038..