Examination of Resiliency of Substance-User and Non-User Undergraduate Students

Abstract

This study aims to examine the psychological resilience levels of university students who use and do not use substances. In this context, whether substance-use and psychological resilience differ according to demographic characteristics has been examined. The data were obtained using Substance Use Scale and Resilience Scale-III-R from 546 university students studying in 10 faculties in the Akdeniz University Central Campus in the 2014-2015 academic year. Data were analyzed performing Mann-Whitney U and Two-Way ANOVA tests. Findings have shown that there is no significant difference between substance user and non-user students in terms of resilience scores. It has been determined that resilience scores of students do not differ according to gender and working status. The resilience of students who use substances did not show a significant difference in terms of the reason for using the substance for the first time and the age of first substance use. On the other hand, a significant difference has been found between the resiliency of substance user students related to the substance-use places. A significant difference has also been found on the resiliency of substance-user students related to the reasons to keep on substance-use.