@article{ref1,
title="Pregaming on alcohol products among male college students in Puducherry-mixed-methods study",
journal="Indian journal of community medicine",
year="2021",
author="Rajaseharan, Divya and Dongre, Amol R.",
volume="46",
number="3",
pages="401-404",
abstract="BACKGROUND: There are some risky practices such as preloading or pregaming which exist among college students. When students pregame, compared with drinking episodes when they do not, they consume a greater number of drinks and have higher blood alcohol concentrations. <br><br>OBJECTIVES: (1) To explore the perceptions about pregaming among male college students in Puducherry. (2) To study the prevalence of pregaming among current alcohol users. <br><br>MATERIALS AND METHODS: A sequential exploratory mixed-method study (Qualitative-Focus Group Discussion [FGD] to explore pregaming followed by Quantitative-self-administered questionnaire [survey]) was conducted among 450 male engineering college students by simple random sampling. <br><br>RESULTS: The prevalence of pregaming among current alcohol users was 66.7%. Among all occasions, the students were involved in pregaming mostly on birthdays 92.5% and marriages 92.5% followed by college cultural events 90%. All of the students 100% wanted to pregame for anticipated alcohol cost problems, 100% pregamed for fun and 87.5% easy conversations with the opposite sex and majority 66.6% had the intention to quit pregaming among current users. <br><br>CONCLUSION: The prevalence of pregaming is high among current users however, the majority of them had the intention to quit this behavior. Counselors and health care professionals working in alcohol de-addiction centers should specifically question pregaming and its associated symptoms. Tailor-made interventions should be promoted to target the concept of pregaming-related consequences of alcohol addiction.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0970-0218",
doi="10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_421_20",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_421_20"
}