Prevalence and correlates of psychoactive substance use in domestic and foreign university students

Abstract

Introduction Use of psychoactive substances is a risk factor for mental health. Studying the peculiarities of using psychoactive substances by university students is extremely important for organizing preventive health care Objectives To specify the frequency of smoking and alcohol drinking, as well as the peculiarities of the correlational interconnections, in domestic and foreign university students Methods The survey covered 546 undergraduate domestic and foreign university students of both genders and different religious backgrounds. As a tool, we used the Sociocultural Health Questionnaire (E. Nikolaev) Results It has been revealed that domestic students smoke cigarettes and hookahs surely more often (p=.01) than foreign students (30.49% vs 19.08%). It is obvious that they also more often (p=.01) use electronic cigarettes or vaping drugs (25.24% vs 12.86%) and alcohol (54.42% vs 9.96%). Students in both groups denied using other psychoactive substances. Foreign students reveal positive correlational interconnections between smoking and alcohol drinking (r=.44), while there is no evidence of such interconnections in domestic students. Both groups show valid interconnections between the frequency of smoking and the level of stress (r=.15 и r=.17 correspondingly), the frequency of smoking and monthly financial expenses (r=.21 и r=.22 correspondingly). With domestic students, vaping negatively correlates with exercising in gyms (r=-.12), with foreign students it directly correlates with bodybuilding supplements consumption (r=.15). Those foreign students who drink alcohol more often point to the necessity of having a psychologist in the university (r=.13). Conclusions The revealed general and specific factors associated with domestic and foreign students’ use of psychoactive substances call for the necessity of developing culturally differentiated preventive programs Disclosure of Interest None Declared