Abstract
BackgroundUniversity students face multiple stressors such as academic overload, constant pressure to succeed, competition with peers as well as concerns about the future. Stress should not be considered on its own, but should be associated with potential risk behaviors leading to onset of substance use and related problems heightened during the university period. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of main substance use and behavioral addictions among students in higher education in France and to examine the relationship with perceived stress.MethodsA self-administered questionnaire was filled out by university student volunteers from Upper Normandy (France) either by anonymous online questionnaire or by paper questionnaire. Data collected included socio-economic characteristics, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), substance use (tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis) and hazardous behaviors: alcohol abuse problems, smoking, consumption of cannabis, eating disorders, and cyber addiction.ResultsA total of 1876 students were included. Mean PSS score was 15.9 (standard deviation = 7.2). Highly stressed students (4th quartile) were compared with lesser stressed students (1st quartile). A positive relation was observed between female gender, regular smokers, alcohol abuse problems, risk of cyberaddiction and especially eating disorders (AOR = 5.45, 95% CI = 3.42-8.69), and increasing PSS score. PSS score however, was not significantly related to the curriculum, regular alcohol use, drunkenness or binge drinking even after additional controlling for use of other substances. We found a significant negative association between stress and practice of sport: students with the most physical activity were less likely to report perceived stress (4th quartile: AOR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.39-0.80).ConclusionsThis cross-sectional study among university students in France revealed that perceived stress was associated not only with known risks such as alcohol misuse, but also with new risks such as eating disorders and cyber addiction. These results could help to develop preventive interventions focussing on these risk behaviors and subsequently improving stress coping capacity in this high-risk population.
Highlights
University students face multiple stressors such as academic overload, constant pressure to succeed, competition with peers as well as concerns about the future
A dynamic partnership was formed with the regional multidisciplinary group “Ta Santé en 1 Clic” (TS1C), involving ten partners from the health, higher education, and voluntary sectors as well as peer-students, all actively involved in the project design
The TS1C program was based on two main actions: Health Forums on campus led by peer-students and a website dedicated to students: www.tasanteenunclic.org
Summary
University students face multiple stressors such as academic overload, constant pressure to succeed, competition with peers as well as concerns about the future. Stress should not be considered on its own, but should be associated with potential risk behaviors leading to onset of substance use and related problems heightened during the university period. Common stressful life events are associated with both mental health symptoms and substance use in young adolescents [7]. The risk of onset of substance use and related problems is heightened during the university period. Onset of smoking and alcohol drinking during early adulthood is a well-documented and significant public health risk factor, and is linked to a high risk of chronic diseases at older age [12,13,14]. Substance use is associated with immediate health problems such as academic difficulties, injuries, interpersonal violence [15], high-risk sexual behavior [16], depression, and mental disorders [17]. Alcohol misuse in students has led to specific behavior known as binge drinking [18,19,20]
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