IRISH university students drink far more than their international counterparts, a study of 21 countries has found.

There is a particular problem with “heavy drinking” — defined as consuming four or more drinks in one sitting for women and five or more for men. Ireland has the highest rate of heavy drinking, with women far outstripping other female students around the world.

The survey could be said to provide back up for the controversial recommendation by Anne Fox, a British anthropologist who has advised the British Army and government on alcohol issues. She said it had been proven that if young people grew up with alcohol as a normal part of life they were less prone to use it in a destructive way.

The study found that countries where wine consumption is highest — such as France, Italy and Portugal — have lower rates of heavy drinking among the student population.

“Mediterranean and wine-drinking areas seem to have achieved a culture in which young adults use alcohol more responsibly than in some countries of northwestern, central and eastern Europe and the United States,” it says.

In Ireland, 57% of female students were classified as heavy drinkers, more than 20 percentage points ahead of the next heaviest drinking country, the Netherlands, where 34% of women fell into that category.

The analysis of the alcohol drinking habits of 17,738 students, aged 17 to 30, found 33% of English and 27% of American women were heavy drinkers. In comparison, only 3% of females from Germany, Italy, South Africa and 4% of Greek women drank heavily.

Almost half (49%) of Irish men said they had drunk heavily in the past two weeks. In America, 43% of men were classified as heavy drinkers with 26% of Englishmen falling into that category. Heavy drinking was infrequent among male students from Germany (2%), Greece (4%) and Italy (6%).

The study, published in the Journal of American College Health, was conducted by psychologists in several countries. The soberest nation was South Africa, where 29% of male students and 6% of women were drinkers. This compared with 95% for men and 93% for women in Ireland.

“There is a very wide variation between countries,” said Andrew Steptoe, professor of psychology at University College London, one of the authors. “As this is only reporting, it may well be an underestimation.

“In some continental countries drinking moderately is part of family life and that may be why high levels of binge drinking are much less common,” said Steptoe.

Heavy drinking was more common among wealthier students with more disposable income who live away from parental control. Students from wealthier backgrounds were 44% more likely to drink heavily than those from poorer backgrounds. Students living away from home were 63% more likely to be heavy drinkers than those still living with their families.

Joe Barry of the department of public health at Trinity College, Dublin, said the findings regarding Irish students were consistent with other studies including the college’s lifestyle and attitudinal national study, which was published last year.

“We have students at Trinity from Ireland and from abroad and (you notice) the difference. Students from continental Europe and north America don’t drink the same way as Irish people do. They enjoy themselves in a different way. We need to address that. It’s part of our so-called culture here and is having hugely negative impacts.

“It will impair academic performance — getting drunk regularly is not good for your brain.”

Barry said public health workers have asked for a stricter regulatory framework in relation to alcohol promotion and marketing in Ireland, but without success. “There are very few sporting and music events that don’t attract alcohol marketing,” he said.

The research found heavy drinkers had greater, rather than less, knowledge of the health consequences of alcohol than had others.

“While people know they are abusing alcohol, they are not heeding the warnings,” said Kelly Mackey, welfare officer with the Union of Students in Ireland. “It feeds into a complacency, this acceptance of the fact we as a nation abuse alcohol and that it’s okay. It’s very difficult to change people’s attitudes when they know the damage they are doing, but are not willing to change.”

Mackey said the numbers of young women misusing alcohol is going up. “An increasing number use alcohol to cope with stress and anxiety,” she said. “About 70% of people use alcohol just to be sociable and would feel alienated if they didn’t, so it’s difficult to break the habit when your entire peer group could alienate you if you didn’t participate in their drinking behaviour.”

Asked last week if parents should allow 15- or 16-year-olds to drink at home, Fox said: “I actually think they should, yes, but the parents need a lot of education in order to be able to do that safely.”

The remark was widely criticised. Thomas Babor from the University of Connecticut, an expert on underage drinking, said countries with a heavy drinking culture had a responsibility to protect children from exposure to alcohol for as long as possible.

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