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):

  1. Abstainers (control group): 26.1%
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. Light polytobacco users: 17.3%; older; less likely to have friends that used tobacco; more likely to have parents that used tobacco
  5. 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.

 

Haardörfer, R., Berg, C. J., Lewis, M., Payne, J., Pillai, D., McDonald, B., & Windle, M. (2016). Polytobacco, marijuana, and alcohol use patterns in college students: A latent class analysis. Addictive behaviors59, 58-64.