Introduction:

Alcohol consumption is a complex and multifactorial health-related problem. Risk and/or protective factors and risk perception may act as modulating variables of alcohol consumption.

Objective:

To explore the relationship between protective and/or risk factors, risk perception and alcohol consumption in Cuban university students.

Material and Methods:

A quantitative non-experimental cross-sectional ex post facto correlation study was conducted. A total of 1,377 university students participated in the study. The instruments used included the Experiential Self-Report, a questionnaire for the evaluation of protective factors of mental health in university students, a questionnaire for the evaluation of risk perception of alcohol consumption, and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the relationships between the different variables.

Results:

Men showed greater difficulties in the adequacy of risk perception and higher alcohol consumption than women. Highly significant relationships were established between risk perception, protective factors, alcohol consumption and other sociodemographic variables included in the study such as academic year, the condition of being granted a scholarship, and area of residence. A direct relationship between the development of protective factors and risk perception and an inverse relationship between the latter and alcohol consumption were found in university students.

Conclusions:

The relationship between risk and protective factors, risk perception and alcohol consumption in university students was analyzed. Introducción: El consumo de alcohol constituye un problema de salud, complejo y multifactorial. Los factores de riesgo y/o protección y la percepción de riesgo pudieran actuar como variables moduladoras del consumo de alcohol.

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