Harmful consumption and alcohol dependence in Peruvian university students with body dissatisfaction – an observational study

Abstract

The abuse of alcoholic beverages is associated with complex mental health disorders, including body dissatisfaction (BD); that form a vicious circle that is very difficult for the person who suffers from them to overcome. The objective of our study was to evaluate the association between the abuse of alcohol consumption and the degree of body dissatisfaction in young women, in four universities in northern Peru. An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 491 university students. Body dissatisfaction and alcohol consumption was analysed using the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), a test designed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a simple screening method for its specific use in primary care settings, using the score greater than six that predicts harmful use or alcohol dependence. The prevalence of harmful consumption or alcohol dependence was higher in those women who presented body dissatisfaction with respect to the group without concern for their image, adjusted for type of university and family structure. (Adjusted PR: 2.33, 95% CI 2.10 - 2.57). In turn, university students who belonged to a reconstituted family obtained 6.82 more points (95% CI: 4.47 to 9.17) in the AUDIT test. Young women with body dissatisfaction are twice as likely to have harmful use/higher alcohol dependence even in single-parent or reconstituted families.