Experiences of alcohol-related harassment among medical students

Medical Education 2010: 44: 1213–1223 Objectives Although fatal accidents caused by alcohol‐related harassment occur frequently among college students, this issue has not been adequately examined. This study set out to investigate the prevalence of alcohol‐related harassment among medical students in Japan. Methods A multi‐institutional, cross‐sectional survey was carried out across seven medical schools in Japan. A self‐report anonymous questionnaire was distributed to 1152 medical students; 951 respondents (82.6%) satisfactorily completed it. From the responses, we determined the reported prevalences of the following types of alcohol‐related harassment among medical students by senior medical students or doctors: (i) being coerced into drinking alcohol; (ii) being compelled to drink an alcoholic beverage all at once (the ikki drinking game); (iii) being deliberately forced to drink until unconscious, and (iv) being subjected to verbal abuse, physical abuse or sexual harassment in relation to alcohol. The prevalence of becoming a harasser among medical students was also measured. Multivariate regressions were used to assess the associations between experiences of alcohol‐related harassment and student characteristics. Results A total of 821 respondents (86.3%) had experienced alcohol‐related harassment and 686 (72.1%) had harassed others. Experiences of the ikki drinking game were frequently reported by both victims (n = 686, 72.1% of all respondents) and harassers (n = 595, 62.6% of all respondents). In multivariate regression, having an experience of alcohol‐related harassment correlated with both being harassed (odds ratio [OR] 14.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] 8.73–23.98) and being a harasser (OR 13.19, 95% CI 8.05–22.34). The pres‐ence of senior members of medical college clubs who were regular drinkers also correlated with both being harassed (OR 2.96, 95% CI 1.88–4.67) and being a harasser (OR 2.97, 95% CI 2.06–4.27). Conclusions Alcohol‐related harassment among medical students is common and tends to occur at drinking parties with senior college club members. Hence, one of the most important strategies for preventing alcohol‐related harassment may be to disrupt this vicious cycle.