Problematic use of psychoactive substances in undergraduates: a comparison of four patterns of substance use

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the difference between alcohol-related and illicit drug-related negative consequences in a sample of undergraduates. The survey study was conducted on a sample of 458 lifetime drug users among second-year students, aged between 19 and 25 years (M = 21.24, SD = 1.15). The Chi-square test of independence revealed a significant dominance of alcohol-related consequences, in comparison to drug-related ones. Separate repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were performed to examine mean differences between substance-related consequences (alcohol-related and illicit drug-related) among the groups of current substance users in four patterns: (1) frequency of alcohol use (non-users, occasional, regular), (2) quantity of alcohol use (non-users, moderate, binge), (3) frequency of illicit drug use (non-users, occasional, regular) and (4) concurrent alcohol and illicit substance use (non-user, alcohol only user, concurrent alcohol and drug user). The strongest association was found between regular illicit drug users and substance-related consequences, when comparing four models of multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVAs). Collectively, these results extend previous findings that identification of regular illicit drug users among undergraduates may be a powerful tool for predicting both alcohol-related and drug-related negative consequences and a potential target for clinical intervention and prevention efforts at universities.