Half of students say they don’t get drunk on a typical week

Matthew SmithHead of Data Journalism
August 29, 2018, 11:00 PM GMT+0

But many students know someone whose drinking habits concern them

Perceptions of students as hard-boozing party animals may be wide of the mark, with a new YouGov Omnibus survey revealing that half of students (52%) report they don’t get drunk on a typical week. A quarter (27%) say they get drunk once a week, 11% twice a week and a further 6% three times or more.

These figures are only slightly lower among those students who are aged 20 and under, with 46% saying they don’t get drunk on a typical week and 50% saying they do.

While most students may not be under the influence often themselves, a substantial number are concerned that one of their peers is beholden to drink. One in four students (26%) report being concerned that someone they know at university is an alcoholic.

Male students are more likely than female students to believe someone they know who might be an alcoholic, at 31% to 22%.

Among those with concerns about their compatriots' drinking habits, half say that those concerns only apply to one (27%) or two (23%) people, while 32% believe they know three or more people who are dependent on drink.

Photo: Getty

See the full results here

This research was conducted using YouGov Omnibus’s Targeted Research service, which uses the power of YouGov’s panel to reach specific target groups