A new study conducted in Christchurch has brought forth that one in four 20-year-olds of Christchurch have alcohol abuse or dependence problem. The study claims that a quarter of the early 20s of Christchurch either abuse alcohol, or are heavily dependent on alcohol.

The study was undertaken by the Otago University's Christchurch Health and Development Study and as many as 1265 children, born in the year 1977, were observed. Also, nearly 1000, which are still a part of the study, were last interviewed when they were 30 years old.

As per researcher Joe Boden, roughly 25% of the participants successfully qualified for the criteria of alcohol abuse or dependence problem. All the participants fell in the age bracket of 22-25 years. He also added that since women had also started drinking, thus, an increase in the number of heavy drinkers between the ages of 22 to 25 was seen.

It is reported that since the participants had a long relationship with the interviewers, thus they were more honest and transparent. The same is attributed for the increase in results as against the earlier conducted national surveys.

As per the experts, some of the prominent symptoms of alcohol disorder entail- opposition from family or friends about drinking, facing trouble with work or studies due to alcohol, relationships break-up and getting into fights or getting arrested due to alcohol.