In this study, the prevalence of psychoactive substance use and dependence was estimated among students at a Spanish university, together with associated factors, polyconsumption, and comorbidity with depression, using a 554-member sample stratified by sex, degree year, and discipline. 86.5% had consumed some potentially addictive psychoactive substance in the past month, and 10.5% satisfied DSM–IV criteria for dependence on nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, or cannabis. Polyconsumers (90.4%) consumed an average 3.2 different substances. Current depression implied increased likelihood of having consumed tobacco or psychoactive pharmaceutical drugs in the past month, and DSM–IV symptoms of major depressive episode were shown by 8.6% of 58 substance-dependent participants, 8.7% of 540 past-month legal substance consumers, and 12.1% of 140 past-month illegal substance consumers.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdewuyaA. O.OlaB. A.AlobaO. O.MapayiB. M., & OginniO. O. (2006) Depression amongst Nigerian university students: prevalence and sociodemographic correlates. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41, 674–678.
2.
AdlafE. M.GliksmanL.DemersA., & Newton-TaylorB. (2001) The prevalence of elevated psychological distress among Canadian undergraduates: findings from the 1998 Canadian Campus Survey. Journal of American College Health, 50, 67–72.
3.
AdlafE. M., & SmartR. G. (1983) Risk-taking and drug-use behaviour: an examination. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 11, 287–296.
4.
ÁlvarezF. J., & Del RíoM. C. (1999) Substance use by Spanish university students. Substance Use & Misuse, 34, 1185–1192.
5.
ArévaloJ. M.MasipG. P., & AbeciaL. C. (1997) Consumo de alcohol en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios [Alcohol consumption in a sample of university students]. Revista Española de Drogodependencias, 22, 25–34.
6.
BarretS. P.DarredeauC., & PihlR. O. (2006) Patterns of simultaneous polysubstance use in drug-using university students. Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, 21, 255–263.
7.
BecoñaE.VázquezF. L., & CerqueiroR. (1997) Dependencia de la nicotina y consumo de tabaco en estudiantes de psicología [Nicotine dependence and tobacco consumption among psychology students]. Revista Española de Drogodependencias, 22, 271–280.
8.
BellR.WechslerH., & JohnstonL. (1997) Correlates of college student marijuana use: results of a U.S. national survey. Addiction, 92, 571–581.
9.
BernsteinG. A.CarrollM. E.ThurasP. D.CosgroveK. P., & RothM. E. (2002) Caffeine dependence in teenagers. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 66, 1–6.
10.
BestD.RawafS.RowleyJ.FloydK.ManningV., & StrangJ. (2000) Drinking and smoking as concurrent predictors of illicit drug use and positive drug attitudes in adolescents. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 60, 319–321.
11.
CampbellR. L., & SvensonL. W. (1992) Drug use among university undergraduate students. Psychological Reports, 70, 1039–1042.
12.
CartwrightW. S. (1999) Costs of drug abuse to society. The Journal of Mental Health Policy Economics, 2, 133–134.
13.
CerveraG.BolinchesF.MartínezJ.ValderramaJ. C.BolinchesM. D., & LlovetF. (1991) Estudio sobre las opiniones y el uso de sustancias psicoactivas en estudiantes de medicina [A study of opinions and use of psychoactive substances among medical students]. Revista Española de Drogodependencias, 16, 125–133.
14.
ChenK., & KandelD. (2002) Relationship between extent of cocaine use and dependence among adolescents and adults in the United States. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 86, 106–114.
15.
ChenK.KandelD. B., & DaviesM. (1997) Relationships between frequency and quantity of marijuana use and last year proxy dependence among adolescents and adults in the United States. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 46, 53–67.
16.
ChoiW. S.PattenC. A.GillinJ. C.KaplanR. M., & PierceJ. P. (1997) Cigarette smoking predicts development of depressive symptoms among U.S. adolescents. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 19, 42–50.
17.
DeykinE.BukaS. L., & ZeenaT. (1992) Depressive illness among chemically dependent adolescents. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 1341–1347.
18.
DierkerL. C.DonnyE.TiffanyS.ColbyS. M.PerrineN., & ClaytonR. R. (2007) The association between cigarette smoking and DSM–IV nicotine dependence among first year college students. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 86, 106–114.
19.
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. (2006) Annual report 2006: the state of the drug problem in Europe. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
20.
FirstM. B.SpitzerR. L.GibbonM., & WilliamsJ. B. W. (1999) Entrevista Clínica Estructurada para los Trastornos del Eje I del DSM–IV: Versión Clínica (SCID–CV) [Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV Axis I Disorders: Clinical Version (SCID– CV)]. Barcelona, Spain: Masson.
21.
Gledhill-HoytJ.LeeH.StroteJ., & WechslerH. (2000) Increased use of marijuana and other illicit drugs at U.S. colleges in the 1990s: results of three national surveys. Addiction, 95, 1655–1667.
22.
GrantB. F.StinsonF. S.DawsonD. A.ChouS. P.DufourM. C.ComptonW.PickeringR. P., & KaplanK. (2004) Prevalence and co-occurrence of substance use disorders and independent mood and anxiety disorders: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Archives of General Psychiatry, 61, 807–816.
23.
HaarasiltaL.MarttunenM.KaprioJ., & AroH. (2001) The 12-month prevalence and characteristics of major depressive episode in a representative nationwide sample of adolescents and young adults. Psychological Medicine, 31, 1169–1179.
24.
HabermanS. (1994) Survey of alcohol and other drug use practices among college students. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 39, 85–100.
25.
HerrerosO.GonzálezM. P.de AlbénizPérez C. E.SaizP. A., & BobesJ. (1997) Consumo de tabaco, alcohol y otras drogas en estudiantes de ciencias de la salud de la Universidad de Oviedo [Consumption of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs among health sciences students at the University of Oviedo]. Adicciones, 9, 363–373.
26.
HoffmannJ. P.CerboneF. G., & SuS. S. (2000) A growth curve analysis of stress and adolescent drug use. Substance Use & Misuse, 35, 687–716.
27.
JohnstonL. D.O'MalleyP. M.BachmanJ. G., & SchulenbergJ. E. (2006) Monitoring the future: national survey results on drug use, 1975–2005: Vol. II. College students and adults ages 19-45. Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
28.
KandelD. B., & ChenK. (2000) Extent of smoking and nicotine dependence in the United States 1991–1993. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2, 263–274.
29.
KandelD. B.JohnsonJ. G.BirdH. R.WeissmanM. M.GoodmanS. H.LaheyB. B.RegierD. A., & Schwab-StoneM. E. (1999) Psychiatric comorbidity among adolescents with substance use disorders: findings from the MECA study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 693–699.
30.
KnightJ. R.WechslerH.KuoM.SeibringM.WeitzmanE. R., & SchuckitM. A. (2002) Alcohol abuse and dependence among U.S. college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 63, 263–270.
31.
LambertS. R.AlvarengaP. E.BorgesM. A., & CostaM. T. (2006) Prevalence of psychoactive drug use among medical students in Rio de Janeiro. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41, 989–996.
32.
LeriF.StewartJ.TremblayA., & BruneauJ. (2004) Heroin and cocaine co-use in a group of injection drug users in Montreal. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, 29, 40–47.
33.
MaldonadoG., & GreenlandS. (1993) Simulation study of confounder-selection strategies. American Journal of Epidemiology, 138, 923–936.
34.
MartinC. S.CliffordP. R.MaistoS. A.EarleywineM.KirisciL., & LongabaughR. (1996) Polydrug use in an inpatient treatment sample of problem drinkers. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 20, 413–417.
35.
MartínezJ. M.Del RíoM. C.LópezN., & ÁlvarezF. J. (1999) Illegal drug-using trends among students in a Spanish university in the last decade (1984–1994). Substance Use & Misuse, 34, 1281–1297.
36.
MasA.NerínI.BarruecoM.CorderoJ.GuillénD.Jiménez-RuizC., & SobradilloV. (2004) Consumo de tabaco en estudiantes de sexto curso de medicina de España [Smoking habits among sixth-year medical students in Spain]. Archivos de Bronconeumología, 40, 403–408.
37.
McCabeS. E.CranfordJ. A.MoralesM., & YoungA. (2006) Simultaneous and concurrent polydrug use of alcohol and prescription drugs: prevalence, correlates, and consequences. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 67, 529–537.
38.
MidanikL. T.TamT. W., & WeisnerC. (2007) Concurrent and simultaneous drug and alcohol use: results of the 2000 National Alcohol Survey. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 90, 72–80.
39.
Newbury-BirchD.WhiteM., & KamaliF. (2000) Factors influencing alcohol and illicit drug use amongst medical students. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 59, 125–130.
40.
O'MalleyP. M., & JohnstonL. D. (2002) Epidemiology of alcohol and other drug use among American college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Suppl. 14, 23–29.
41.
PendergrastM. (1999) Uncommon grounds: the history of coffee and how it transformed our world. New York: Basic Books.
42.
Peretti-WatelP.BeckF., & LegleyeS. (2002) Beyond the U-curve: the relationship between sport and alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use in adolescents. Addiction, 97, 707–716.
43.
RaoU.DaleyS. E., & HammenC. (2000) Relationship between depression and substance use disorders in adolescent women during the transition to adulthood. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 215–222.
44.
RimszaM. E., & MosesK. S. (2005) Substance abuse on the college campus. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 52, 307–319.
45.
RobertsR.GoldingJ.TowellT., & WeinrebI. (1999) The effects of economic circumstances on British students' mental and physical health. Journal of American College Health, 48, 103–109.
46.
RodríguezM. E., & CamíJ. (1986) Substance use among medical students in Barcelona (Spain). A comparison with previous surveys. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 18, 311–318.
47.
SchorlingJ. (1994) Tobacco, alcohol and other drug use among college students. Journal of Substance Abuse, 6, 105–115.
48.
SinhaR. (2001) How does stress increase risk of drug abuse and relapse?Psychopharmacology, 158, 343–359.
49.
SledjeskiE. M.DierkerL. C.CostelloD.ShiffmanS.DonnyE., & FlayB. R. (2007) Predictive validity of four nicotine dependence measures in a college sample. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 87, 10–19.
50.
SlutskeW. S. (2005) Alcohol use disorders among U.S. college students and their non-college-attending peers. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62, 321–327.
51.
SomersJ. M.GoldnerE. M.WaraichP., & HsuL. (2004) Prevalence studies of substance-related disorders: a systematic review of the literature. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 49, 373–384.
52.
StinsonF. S.RuanW. J.PickeringR., & GrantB. F. (2006) Cannabis use disorders in the USA: prevalence, correlates and comorbidity. Psychological Medicine, 36, 1447–1460.
53.
StrainE. C.MumfordG. K.SilvermanK., & GriffithsR. R. (1994) Caffeine dependence syndrome: evidence from case histories and experimental evaluations. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 272, 1043–1048.
54.
SwiftW.HallW.DidcottP., & ReillyD. (1998) Patterns and correlates of cannabis dependence among long-term users in an Australian rural area. Addiction, 93, 1149–1160.
55.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2006) 2006 world drug report. Vienna, Austria: Author.
56.
VázquezF. L., & BlancoV. (2008) Prevalence of DSM–IV major depression among Spanish university students. Journal of American College Health, 57, 165–171.
57.
VázquezF. L.BlancoV., & LópezM. (2006) Consumo de alcohol, tabaco y otras drogas en futuros profesionales de la salud [Consumption of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs among future health professionals]. Revista Española de Drogodependencias, 31, 93–105.
58.
VázquezF. L.MuñozR. F.BlancoV., & LópezM. (2008) Validation of Muñoz's Mood Screener in a nonclinical Spanish population. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 24, 57–64.
59.
WebbE.AshtonC. H.KellyP., & KamaliF. (1996) Alcohol and drug use in U.K. university students. Lancet, 348, 922–925.
60.
ZacnyJ.BigelowG.ComptonP.FoleyK.IguchiM., & SannerudC. (2003) College on problems of drug dependence taskforce on prescription opioid non-medical use and abuse: position statement. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 69, 215–232.
