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Nearly one in five university students experienced violence in the last six months; drinking often a factor: new study by CYHRNet Co-Leader Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc

While attending university, men are equally likely as women to have been victims of physical or emotional violence, and that violence is often linked to drinking, says a new study led by CYHRNet Co-Leader and UBC researcher Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc.

The study, part of a larger project on problem drinking and campus health funded by CIHR and the U.S. National Institutes of Health, was published online in June in the Journal of Adolescent Health and is scheduled for print publication in fall 2009. Saewyc worked with researchers at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Washington in Seattle to survey more than 2,000 students who attended campus health services for routine clinical appointments.

The researchers found that 17 per cent of men and 16 per cent of women reported emotional or physical violence in the past six months.

"Whether it's from intimate partners or relative strangers, violence has a significant effect on young people's health," says Dr. Saewyc. "At university, the stress from experiencing violence can affect students' grades, their mental health, even their long-term physical health. When nearly one in five young people report violence, that's a serious concern for campus health services."

Almost half of the emotional violence and 20 per cent of the physical violence reported by both genders came from intimate partners.

"It appears that young men in college are as likely to experience violence as young women, and much of that violence is from their intimate partners," says Dr. Saewyc.

The study also found links between alcohol use and violence victimization.

"We've known that drinking increases the risk of perpetrating violence, but in this study we found alcohol consumption puts both young men and women at higher risk of being victimized too," says Dr. Saewyc.

Of those who experienced violence, more than one in three young women and 59 per cent of young men said they had been drinking when the violence happened.

Dr. Saewyc and her colleagues propose campus health services should do more to screen for violence exposure among students, and universities also need interventions to promote healthy dating relationships.

"There are established guidelines that recommend screening women for intimate partner violence in routine clinical care on campus but not for men," says Dr. Saewyc. "This study shows we need the same routine screening for young men too."

View abstract for article "Gender Differences in Violence Exposure among University Students Attending Campus Health Clinics in the United States and Canada" here.