Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP ()

Use of alcohol and other drugs among male university students and its meanings

  • Eliza Maria Rezende Dázio,
  • Márcia Maria Fontão Zago,
  • Silvana Maria Coelho Leite Fava

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/s0080-623420160000600011
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 50, no. 5
pp. 785 – 791

Abstract

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Abstract OBJECTIVE To understand the meanings that male university students assign to the condition of users of alcohol and other drugs. METHOD An exploratory study using a qualitative approach, with inductive analysis of the content of semi-structured interviews applied to 20 male university students from a public university in the southeast region of Brazil, grounded on the theoretical-methodological referential of interpretive anthropology and ethnographic method. RESULTS Data were construed using content inductive analysis for two topics: use of alcohol and/or drugs as an outlet; and use of alcohol and/or other drugs: an alternative for belonging and identity. CONCLUSION Male university students share the rules of their sociocultural environment that values the use of alcohol and/or other drugs as a way of dealing with the demands and stress ensuing from the everyday university life, and to build identity and belong to this social context, reinforcing the influence of culture.

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