How far can you go? Association between illicit drug use and academic migration

To measure the prevalence of illicit drugs use in the lifetime, last year and last month, as well as the factors associated to the last year's use and its association with academic migration, among undergraduate students of a university in southern Brazil.

Methods:

In this cross-sectional study, data were collected through self-administered questionnaire. It was conducted a clustered systematic sampling. For multivariate analyses, it was used Poisson regression.

Results:

1,423 students participated. The prevalence of illicit drug use in the lifetime, last year and last month were 42.4%, 25.5% and 17.7%, respectively. Regarding illicit substances, marijuana use was the most prevalent. The variables independently associated with illicit drugs use in the last year were academic migration, being male, younger, single, high parent's educational level, living with peers, tobacco use in the last year, and having friend and relative that have used illicit drugs. Religious practice had a protective effect.

Conclusion:

Individuals who migrated from their cities to study at the university are more exposed to the main risk factors pointed out by this research and hence to the use of illicit drugs. Based on these results, we suggest that universities develop evaluation, prevention, treatment or referral strategies considering specific needs of this population

Keywords
Illicit drugs; academic migration; students; undergraduation; university

Variable		n	%
Sex (N = 1,401)
	Female	711	50.7
	Male	690	49.3
Age (N = 1,307)
	18 to 24 years	829	63.4
	25 to 31 years	258	19.7
	32 years or more	220	16.9
Skin color (N = 1,410)
	White	1,109	78.6
	Black	94	6.7
	Brown or yellow	207	14.7
Academic migration (N = 1,387)
	City of the university	780	56.2
	Neighbor cities	111	8.0
	Cities of the same state	280	20.2
	Cities of other states	216	15.6
Living situation (N = 1,390)
	Live with relatives	915	65.8
	Live alone	177	12.8
	Live with peers	298	21.4
Marital status (N = 1,412)
	Single	595	42.1
	In a relationship	817	57.9
Relatives that used illicit drugs (N = 1,399)
	No	1,219	87.1
	Yes	180	12.9
Friend that used illicit drugs (N = 1,408)
	No	511	36.3
	Yes	897	63.7
Religious practice (N = 1,414)
	Never	563	39.8
	Annually	343	24.3
	Monthly	265	18.7
	Weekly or daily	243	17.2
Tobacco use in the last year (N = 1,418)
	No	1,114	78.6
	Yes	304	21.4

		Lifetime % (95% CI)	Last year % (95% CI)	Last month % (95% CI)
Illicit drugs		42.4 (39.8-45.0)	25.5 (23.2-27.8)	17.7 (15.7-19.7)
Types ^* * Multiple answers.
	Marijuana	40.5 (37.9-43.1)	23.9 (21.7-26.1)	16.8 (14.8-18.8)
	Inhalants	8.8 (7.3-10.3)	2.1 (1.4-2.8)	0.9 (0.4-1.4)
	Cocaine	10.9 (9.3-12.5)	3.5 (2.5-4.5)	1.3 (0.7-1.9)
	Crack	0.6 (0.2-1.0)	0.0	0.0
	Mushrooms	6.4 (5.1-7.7)	2.8 (1.9-3.7)	1.4 (0.8-2.0)
	Ecstasy	9.1 (7.6-10.6)	4.6 (3.5-5.7)	2.0 (1.3-2.7)
	LSD	9.8 (8.3-11.3)	5.9 (4.7-7.1)	2.8 (1.9-3.7)

Level	Variable		%	Crude	Adjusted
Level	Variable		%	PR (95% CI)	PR (95% CI)
1^st	Sex			p < 0.001	p < 0.001
		Female	20.6	1	1
		Male	30.6	1.50 (1.23-1.83)	1.59 (1.31-1.93)
	Age			p < 0.001^* * Wald's test for linear trend.	p < 0.001^* * Wald's test for linear trend.
		18 to 24 years	32.9	4.96 (2.92-8.42)	4.82 (2.87-8.12)
		25 to 31 years	17.5	2.62 (1.50-4.56)	2.45 (1.40-4.28)
		32 or more	6.5	1	1
	Skin color			p = 0.147	p = 0.695
		White	26.5	1	1
		Black, brown or yellow	22.3	0.84 (0.67-1.06)	0.95 (0.75-1.21)
	Family income			p = 0.324	p = 0.419
		1^st quartile (low)	25.3	1	1
		2^nd quartile	23.9	0.96 (0.74-1.24)	1.06 (0.81-1.40)
		3^rd quartile	23.8	0.94 (0.70-1.27)	0.98 (0.74-1.31)
		4^th quartile (high)	29.4	1.16 (0.91-1.48)	1.18 (0.92-1.51)
2^nd	Parents educational level			p < 0.001^* * Wald's test for linear trend.	p = 0.024^* * Wald's test for linear trend.
		1^st tercile (low)	17.5	1	1
		2^nd tercile	24.9	1.42 (1.08-1.86)	1.09 (0.81-1.47)
		3^rd tercile (high)	34.9	1.97 (1.49-2.62)	1.37 (1.02-1.85)
	Academic migration			p < 0.001^* * Wald's test for linear trend.	p = 0.003^* * Wald's test for linear trend.
		City of the university or neighbor cities	20.5	1	1
		Cities of the same state	31.8	1.55 (1.20-1.99)	1.25 (0.97-1.59)
		Cities of other states	36.7	1.78 (1.41-2.24)	1.40 (1.10-1.79)
3^rd	Living situation			p < 0.001	p = 0.013
		Live with relatives	19.1	1	1
		Live alone	34.3	1.78 (1.37-2.32)	1.30 (0.92-1.83)
		Live with peers	39.9	2.07 (1.65-2.60)	1.56 (1.16-2.09)
	Marital status			p < 0.001	p = 0.001
		Single	19.9	1.70 (1.41-2.04)	1.41 (1.15-1.72)
		In a relationship	33.3	1	1
	Relatives that used illicit drugs			p < 0.001	p < 0.001
		No	23.0	1	1
		Yes	44.4	1.92 (1.58-2.33)	1.84 (1.51-2.24)
	Friend that used illicit drugs			p < 0.001	p < 0.001
		No	5.5	1	1
		Yes	37.4	6.70 (4.35-10.34)	4.38 (2.91-6.60)
4^th	Religious practice			p < 0.001^* * Wald's test for linear trend.	p = 0.003^* * Wald's test for linear trend.
		Never	37.2	1	1
		Annually	22.9	0.62 (0.48-0.81)	0.88 (0.70-1.10)
		Monthly	19.2	0.53 (0.39-0.72)	0.90 (0.71-1.16)
		Weekly or daily	9.2	0.25 (0.16-0.39)	0.53 (0.35-0.81)
	Last year use of tobacco			p < 0.001	p < 0.001
		No	15.9	1	1
		Yes	60.8	3.81 (3.25-4.46)	2.55 (2.11-3.09)

Instituto de Psiquiatria da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Av. Venceslau Brás, 71 Fundos, 22295-140 Rio de Janeiro - RJ Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 21) 3873-5510 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: editora@ipub.ufrj.br

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