Use of psychoactive substances at least once in life among Brazilian university students at the beginning and end of courses and the associated factors

<div><p>Abstract Objective Investigate the use of psychoactive substances at least once in life among students at the beginning and end of their courses and determine the associated factors. Methods A cross-sectional study conducted with a representative sample of 398 students in public university. The students answered a questionnaire validated for the evaluation of drug use and socio-demographic data. Poisson regression analysis was performed. Results A total of 56.3% and 13.3% of the students had used both legal and ilegal drugs. The following variables remained significantly associated with legal drug use in the final model: male sex (PR=1.48; 95%CI: 1.25-1.76), older age group (PR=1.23; 95%CI: 1.03-1.47), not living with parents (PR=1.20; 95%CI: 1.01-1.41), not having a religion (PR=1.37; 95%CI: 1.16-1.62) and taking a course in the health field (PR=1.33; 95%CI: 1.08-1.64). The following variables were significantly associated with ilegal drug use: male sex (PR=2.33; 95%CI: 1.35-4.02), older age group (PR=2.27; 95%CI: 1.28-4.02), higher monthly income (PR=1.73; 95%CI: 1.05-2.85) and not having a religion (PR=1.70; 95%CI: 1.02-2.84). Conclusion Legal and ilegal drug use at least once in life was associated with social factors, sex, age, income, religion, living situation and type of higher education course.</p>