Shift in scarfie booze culture
A decade-long study into Otago student drinking culture has found a reduction in the number of ‘‘scarfies’’ getting drunk.
High levels of alcohol-related harm among students in the early 2000s prompted the tertiary institution to implement policy changes.
They included strengthening the student code of conduct, deploying Campus Watch, banning alcohol advertising on campus and more say on the operation of alcohol outlets near campus.
The Hazardous Drinking among Students over a Decade of University Policy Change: Controlled Before-and-After Evaluation study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, looked at that
alcohol policy reform.
Otago students took part in a controlled survey in 2004 and then in 2014, alongside three control universities.
The proportion of respondents who drank alcohol did not change, but the proportion who drank to intoxication was substantially smaller in 2014 than in 2004.
Intoxication rates decreased from 45 per cent in 2004 to 33 per cent in 2014.
Lead author Professor Kypros Kypri, of the University of Otago’s Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, said intoxication also decreased at the other universities, but the absolute change at Otago was larger.
‘‘This was achieved without reducing the prevalence of drinking, which suggests that institutional policies can exert positive influence on how people drink.’’
The research showed far less of the drinking occurred in pubs in 2014, than 2004.
Bars near the University of Otago that have closed in recent years include the Captain Cook Tavern (since reopened), the Bowling Green Tavern, Monkey Bar and the Gardens Tavern.
‘‘Overall, there has been a shift among Otago students to drinking less than weekly and across fewer types of locations, with a large shift away from drinking in pubs,’’ Kypri said. The finding calls into question industry claims that licensed premises are less conducive to heavy drinking than other environments.