IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i12p6426-d574564.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Multi-Substance Use Behaviors: Prevalence and Correlates of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) Use among University Students in Finland

Author

Listed:
  • Walid El Ansari

    (Department of Surgery, Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar
    College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha 3050, Qatar
    School of Health and Education, University of Skovde, 541 28 Skövde, Sweden)

  • Abdul Salam

    (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam 31444, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Virtually no studies appraised the co-use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) among Finn undergraduates. We assessed the associations between sociodemographic, health, academic, policy, and lifestyle characteristics (independent variables); and individual, multiple and increasing ATOD use (dependent variables) using regression analyses. Data were collected by online questionnaire at the University of Turku, Finland (1177 students). Roughly 22% of the sample smoked, 21% ever used illicit drug/s, 41% were high frequency drinkers, and 31.4%, 16.3%, and 6.7% reported 1, 2, or 3 ATOD behaviors respectively. Individual ATOD use was significantly positively associated with the use of the other two substances [adjusted odds ratio (Adj OR range 1.893–3.311)]. Multiple ATOD use was negatively associated with being single ( p = 0.021) or agreeing with total smoking or alcohol ban policy on campus ( p < 0.0001 for each); but positively associated with not living with parents ( p = 0.004). Increasing ATOD behaviors were significantly less likely among those agreeing with total smoking or alcohol ban policy on campus ( p range 0.024 to <0.0001). Demographics significant to either individual, multiple, or increasing ATOD use included males, being single, not living with their parents during semesters, and to some extent, religiosity. Age, depressive symptoms, perceived stress, self-rated health, health awareness, income sufficiency, and academic variables were not associated with individual, multiple, or increasing ATOD use. Education and prevention efforts need to reinforce abstinence from ATOD, highlight their harmful outcomes, and target risk groups highlighted above. University strategies should be part of the wider country-wide successful ATOD control policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Walid El Ansari & Abdul Salam, 2021. "Multi-Substance Use Behaviors: Prevalence and Correlates of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) Use among University Students in Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-14, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:12:p:6426-:d:574564
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6426/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6426/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tamara Espejo-Garcés & Javier Cachón-Zagalaz & Félix Zurita-Ortega & Gabriel González-Valero & José Luis Ubago-Jiménez, 2021. "Study of Psychosocial and Academic Indicators in Young Adults from Andalucía, Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-12, January.
    2. Walid El Ansari & Abdul Salam & Sakari Suominen, 2020. "Is Alcohol Consumption Associated with Poor Perceived Academic Performance? Survey of Undergraduates in Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-19, February.
    3. Tatjana Gazibara & Marija Milic & Milan Parlic & Jasmina Stevanovic & Dragoslav Lazic & Gorica Maric & Darija Kisic-Tepavcevic & Tatjana Pekmezovic, 2018. "Illict drug use and academia in North Kosovo: Prevalence, patterns, predictors and health-related quality of life," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(7), pages 1-12, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carsten Müller & Kareem El-Ansari & Walid El Ansari, 2022. "Health-Promoting Behavior and Lifestyle Characteristics of Students as a Function of Sex and Academic Level," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Beata Gavurova & Viera Ivankova & Martin Rigelsky, 2021. "Alcohol Use Disorders among Slovak and Czech University Students: A Closer Look at Tobacco Use, Cannabis Use and Socio-Demographic Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-16, November.
    3. Dorota Kleszczewska & Joanna Mazur & Katarzyna Porwit & Anna Kowalewska, 2022. "Who Is Able to Resist What Is Forbidden?—The Relationship between Health Literacy and Risk Behaviours in Secondary School Students in the Broader Social and Educational Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-16, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Janina Petkeviciene & Vilma Kriaucioniene & Asta Raskiliene, 2022. "Academic Achievements, Satisfaction with Studies and Risky Behaviours among First-Year Students of Kaunas (Lithuania) Universities, 2000–2017," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-12, June.
    2. José Luis Rodríguez-Sáez & Luis J. Martín-Antón & Alfonso Salgado-Ruiz & Miguel Ángel Carbonero, 2021. "Socio-Emotional Variables Linked to the Consumption of Drugs amongst University Students of Social Sciences: A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Hanif Abdul Rahman & Areekul Amornsriwatanakul & Khadizah H. Abdul-Mumin & Denny Agustiningsih & Surasak Chaiyasong & Michael Chia & Supat Chupradit & Le Quang Huy & Katiya Ivanovitch & Ira Nurmala & , 2022. "Prevalence of Health-Risk Behaviors and Mental Well-Being of ASEAN University Students in COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-15, July.
    4. Carsten Müller & Kareem El-Ansari & Walid El Ansari, 2022. "Health-Promoting Behavior and Lifestyle Characteristics of Students as a Function of Sex and Academic Level," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-18, June.
    5. Alicia Busto Miramontes & Lucía Moure-Rodríguez & Narmeen Mallah & Ainara Díaz-Geada & Montserrat Corral & Fernando Cadaveira & Francisco Caamaño-Isorna, 2021. "Alcohol Consumption among Freshman College Students in Spain: Individual and Pooled Analyses of Three Cross-Sectional Surveys (2005, 2012 and 2016)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-13, March.
    6. Walid El Ansari & Abdul Salam, 2020. "Is Achieving the Guidelines of Four Forms of Physical Activity Associated with Less Self-Reported Health Complaints? Cross-Sectional Study of Undergraduates at the University of Turku, Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Eduardo Melguizo-Ibáñez & Félix Zurita-Ortega & Gabriel González-Valero & Pilar Puertas-Molero & Georgian Badicu & Gianpiero Greco & Stefania Cataldi & Francesco Fischetti, 2022. "Alcohol, Tobacco and Cannabis Consumption on Physical Activity and Physical and Social Self-Concept in Secondary School Students: An Explanatory Model Regarding Gender," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-14, August.
    8. Irena Pandža Bajs & Vanda Bazdan & Irena Guszak, 2024. "Quality of instructor, fear of COVID-19, and students’ anxiety as predictors of student satisfaction and academic effort in online classes," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:12:p:6426-:d:574564. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.