The Association Between the Use of Alcohol, Marijuana and Cocaine and the Sociodemographic Characteristics of University Students of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil

Abstract

Objective: to determine the prevalence of use in life and in the last three months of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine among university students from the social and health Sciences areas of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil and to evaluate the association between use in life and in the last three months of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine and the variables gender, area of the course, with whom the student lives, importance of religion, age and year of study. Method: a cross-sectional study, carried out with a convenience sample of 275 students from a public university in Ribeirão Preto-SP. For data collection, two instruments were used, containing sociodemographic, training and psychoactive substances. For the analysis, the following tests were used: Fisher's exact test, Chi-square test of Person and Mann-Whitney test. Results: As for sociodemographic factors, there was a significant association between the gender of the participants among the use of marijuana and cocaine in life (p=0.024 and p=0.005, respectively) and the last three months (p=0.013 and p=0.009, respectively), among the importance of religion and the lifetime use of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine (p <0.001, p <0.001 and p = 0.024, respectively) and the use of only marijuana in the last three months (p <0.001) and among the use of marijuana in the last three months and the year of graduation (p=0.003). Regarding age, the results showed a significant difference only between the groups that reported not to use alcohol in life (p=0.037). Conclusion: the investigated university students presented a prevalence of use in their lifetime and in the last three months of marijuana and cocaine greater among men, but not for alcohol. The importance of religion was negatively associated with the use of investigated drugs. The results can provide important subsidies for the structuring of preventive measures for abuse of psychoactive substances between university students and the need for new investigations that cover the subject.

Factors associated with alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use among Brazilian undergraduate students

“…On the other hand, more time spent outside class studying was associated with a lower chance of using the three substances, and other studies have also found that on days when students spent more time studying, fewer heavy drinking episodes were reported (25) . Religious movements, on the other hand, were associated with a 72%, 76.5% and 81.2% reduction in the chances of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use, respectively, corroborating the findings in the literature (26)(27) .…”

Cannabis use, risk behaviours and harms in Brazil: A comprehensive review of available data indicators

“…In 2010, a non‐representative sample of university students assessed by the Inter‐American Drug Abuse Control Commission showed a prevalence of 13.8% for past‐year cannabis use [61]. Regional (e.g., city or state) samples ( n = 52–9974) identified rates of 8%–42% for lifetime, 2%–44% for past‐year, 9%–18% for past 3 months, and 0.6%–23% for past‐month cannabis use between 1996 and 2021 [62–83].…”

Associações entre uso de álcool e perfil sociodemográfico de universitários de Enfermagem e Nutrição

“…No quesito do tipo de bebida alcoólica mais consumida, identifica-se maior prevalência para uso da cerveja, característica que se alinha a outras pesquisas (7,25,29) e também se associou aos perfis de consumo do AUDIT. Argumenta-se acerca do fácil acesso a esses tipos de bebidas, além de serem encontrados em todos os lugares e a preços baixos (4,(19)(20) .…”

“…O I Levantamento Nacional sobre o Uso de Álcool, Tabaco e Outras Drogas entre Universitários das 27 capitais brasileiras apontou que 86,5% da população universitária já experimentaram álcool alguma vez na vida, 60,5% declararam ter feito uso de álcool nos últimos 30 dias, 19,2% dos universitários preencheram os critérios para uso abusivo, e 2,6%, os critérios para uso de alto risco ou de dependência (3) . Assim, o uso de álcool representa a substância psicoativa mais utilizada entre os universitários (4)(5) e cuja prevalência é maior em comparação com a população em geral (89,3% versus 78,6%) (6) .…”

“…Nesse sentido, explora-se o questionamento acerca da vida universitária atuar como fator de proteção ou de risco para o uso de álcool e outras drogas (4)(5)(7)(8)(9) , uma vez que vêm sendo utilizadas pelos estudantes também como estratégia de lazer (10) .…”