NEW YORK, Jan 21 — Studying in a foreign country can make people more mature, self-confident, and even employable, research has shown. It also can lead people to take potentially dangerous risks, including trying new drugs, a new study suggests.

The survey, released yesterday by On Call International, a firm that provides risk management services to Americans travelling abroad, shows that young people may be temped to heighten their alcohol intake while in another country. The company surveyed 1,000 current or recent students who studied in a foreign country while in college. Half the respondents who said they drank alcohol said they drank more while abroad. Eleven per cent said that while at school in a foreign country, they were more likely to “black out,” losing memory during a bout of drunkenness.

Twenty-nine per cent of the people surveyed said they had used drugs while studying abroad, and 11 per cent said they tried a drug for the first time during this period. This doesn’t necessarily mean that students are doing more drugs than they would have at home. A survey conducted by the University of Michigan in 2014 found that 39 per cent of college students had tried drugs in the previous 12 months.

It is generally unclear whether studying abroad is more dangerous for Americans than staying on campus would be. In Minnesota, where state law requires colleges to report on major incidents involving students studying abroad, fewer than 1 per cent of 10,000 students who travelled in the 2014-2015 academic year were hospitalised. The Forum on Education Abroad, a non-profit that facilitates foreign study programmes, found that the most common incidents involving American students abroad related to illness. The sickness students were most likely to report: diarrhoea. In fact, there were more cases of gastrointestinal maladies than aggravated assaults, robberies, and deaths combined.

A 2012 survey of young women who had recently studied abroad found that they were at greater risk of being sexually assaulted while travelling. The authors told Inside Higher Ed that women may be unfamiliar with host cultures and have an easier time getting alcohol, which can make them a target. The sample in the study included just 218 women, all from one college, which might limit the findings’ broader relevance. On Call International, which produced the latest survey, has a stake in the question because it sells emergency services to travellers.

If you ask organisations interested in promoting study abroad, travel comes with few downsides and can make young people more productive, open, and effective. The Institute for the International Education of Students, which offers study abroad placements in 21 countries, found that — compared to all US college graduates from 2006 to 2011 — students who participated in the organisation’s foreign programmes were almost twice as likely to be employed and were earning US$7,000 (RM30,650) more. The vast majority of the 1,000 IES alumni surveyed, 84 per cent, told the organisation that studying abroad made them more tolerant, adaptable, and better at communicating in English and other languages. After all, even diarrhoea can build character. — Bloomberg