As the body of research regarding illicit drug use throughout populations continues to slowly grow and become more nuanced, it has continually found that the highest usage rates of these substances occur in the college-aged demographic. Whether usage is due to experimentation, self-medication, pleasure, etc., the ever-growing trend of illicit substance abuse among young adults necessitates greater scientific understanding and characterization. This study sought to describe the prevalence of drug use among higher education students by attempting to identify key factors among users and non-users. Among these factors are the students’ attitudes and knowledgebases surrounding illicit drugs, as well as environmental
aspects including their social group(s) and residences.
The study took place at a large Portuguese university and consisted of 840 students’ completed responses of a 19-part questionnaire (n=840, 55.4% female). The first 9 parts of the questionnaire contained demographic information, including gender, socioeconomic status, relationship status, whether they lived in their family home, and other questions regarding study area(s) and physical characteristics. The remaining 10 questions were grouped into three sections: “Knowledge”, which quizzed the students on general recreational drug facts; “Attitudes”, which measured the degree in which students agreed on statements concerning illicit drug use; and “Consumption”, an area to report recent drug usage for both the participants and that of their peers. The specific substances mentioned in the questionnaire were cannabis, cocaine, and hallucinogens.
The results of the study found that 22.2% of the sample used at least one of the three recreational drugs in the questionnaire, and over half (52.3%) considered themselves to be friends with at least one individual who regularly uses illicit drugs. Cannabis was the most consumed illicit substance, with 21.9% of the total sample reporting its usage in the past year. 1.5% of the sample reported cocaine use in the past year, and 1.9% reported similarly for hallucinogens. Factors which significantly increased illicit drug usage were having friends who used these substances (p<0.001), being in the final year of school (“3rd year”, p<0.01), being older in age (p<0.01), having greater drug knowledge (p<0.001), and moving to a new residence while starting at the university (p<0.001).
Takeaway: as universities grapple with mitigating the increasing trend of illicit substance use among students, strategies can be designed to effectively target identified factors that lead to increased prevalence of use. Based upon the findings of this study, an evidence-based approach towards attenuating recreational drug use may find it appropriate to selectively
target upper-level students and students who have moved to a new residence immediately prior to starting their first term.