In an effort to inform substance use prevention and recovery programs, a recent study characterized polysubstance use patterns involving tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol among college students. This study utilized baseline data collected from a multi-wave longitudinal study administered across seven universities (n=3,418 participants). After assessing sociodemographics, individual-level factors, and sociocontextual factors, the authors conducted a latent class analysis and multivariate logistic regression to identify profiles of substance use behaviors. When evaluating past 4-month use, results indicated five profiles (or classes) with the following characteristics (in reference to abstainers):
- Abstainers (control group): 26.1%
- Alcohol-only users: 38.9%; perceived tobacco and marijuana use as less socially acceptable; more likely to have parents that used alcohol and friends that used marijuana; less likely to have friends that used tobacco
- Heavy polytobacco users: 7.3%; less likely to be African-American; lower perceived harm of tobacco and marijuana use; less likely to have no friends that used alcohol
- Light polytobacco users: 17.3%; older; less likely to have friends that used tobacco; more likely to have parents that used tobacco
- Little cigar and cigarillo/hookah/marijuana co-users: 10.4%; older; more likely to have parents that used tobacco
When evaluating past 30-day use, the LCC/hookah/marijuana co-users were the most stable profile, with 77.3% classifying as such in both timeframes.
Take Away: In this study, the two profiles with the largest “membership” were alcohol-only users and abstainers, suggesting the majority of college students are not polysubstance users. However, group membership appeared unstable when examining past 4-month use vs. past 30-day use, indicating that some college students are polysubstance users, with some students moving either more or less rapidly between subgroups.