Prevalence and socio-demographic, academic, health and lifestyle predictors of illicit drug/s use among university undergraduate students in Finland

• Illicit drug/s use (IDU) among university students is a public health concern. We assessed the associations between socio-demographic, academic, and health and lifestyle characteristics (independent variables) and regular, occasional or never IDU (dependent variables). Data were collected across seven faculties (1177 students) at the University of Turku (Finland) via an online questionnaire. About 1.5% of the sample had regular IDU, 19% occasional IDU, and 79% never IDU. Independent predictors of ever (lifetime) IDU included males [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.82, P = 0.001], not living with parents (AOR 2.59, P < 0.001), singles (AOR 0.51, P < 0.001), lower religiosity (AOR 1.49, P = 0.022), better self-rated general health (AOR 0.41, P = 0.003), higher health awareness (AOR 1.93, P = 0.014), more depressive symptoms (AOR 1.82, P = 0.004), daily smokers (AOR 3.69, P < 0.001), heavy episodic drinking (AOR 2.38, P < 0.001) and possible alcohol dependency (AOR 2.55, P < 0.001). We observed no independent associations between ever IDU with age, study discipline, perceived stress or academic performance. The 20.5% ever IDU is concerning. The compelling independent predictors of ever IDU included not living with parents, lower religiosity, daily smokers, heavy episodic drinking and possible alcohol dependency (AOR range 2.38–3.69). Education and prevention need to emphasize the negative consequences to reinforce abstinence from IDU. Health promotion could focus on beliefs and expectations about IDU and target students at risk for successful efforts. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Academic performance

Illicit drug/s use

Mental health

Sociodemographic and educational characteristics

University students

alcohol

cannabis

illicit drug

health impact

health risk

lifestyle

medical geography

public health

quality of life

student

academic achievement

adult

alcoholism

Article

controlled study

demography

dependent variable

drug use

female

Finland

health promotion

human

independent variable

lifestyle modification

major clinical study

male

online system

Perceived Stress Scale

pilot study

prevalence

questionnaire

religion

substance abuse

substance use

undergraduate student

university student

Individual and Society VIDSOC

Individ och samhälle VIDSOC

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)