The American students going to places like Europe, Australia or New Zealand for higher studies were found to be drinking more in comparison to the ones who went to Asia, Latin America, the Middle East or Africa.

The level was twice as high, for the ones who went to New Zealand to study and the reports suggested that had they stayed in their homes, the level would not have been the same.

This study carried out by the University of Washington was published in the current issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, which was intended to find out the reason behind this increase in alcohol consumption abroad.

Eric Pedersen, a UW graduate student in psychology said that though there has been a great fuss about this increase in alcohol consumption, so far none of the media houses have come up with some prevention strategies. These strategies must be undertaken by the students before they travel aboard.

The survey involved 177 participants who had been abroad for roughly three to five months. Just before these participants were leaving home, they were questioned about the alcoholic drinks they consumed each week. Some more questions like, their plans to drink while abroad and their perceptions about drinking habits, were asked.

Almost after the month when these participants returned to their campus, they were once again asked the level to which their drinking habits had changed.

Pedersen said, "Our data generally shows that students drink moderately while abroad, but a subset of students drink more heavily and may begin to experience consequences abroad".