ABSTRACT

The primary purpose of this study was to examine substance use among university students to identify factors that influence the use and abuse of substances. Specifically, we explored the influence of psychological and personality traits on students’ use of substances. Two research questions guided this study: do psychological problems increase an individual’s risk of using substances such as drugs and alcohol? and do personality traits increase the risk of using substances? To address these questions, we obtained data from students attending one of the largest public universities in the Southern region of the United States. Using multivariate analytical strategies, the study made several important observations. First, drug use and alcohol use were less frequent among the study sample. Second, both psychological issues and personality traits predicted students’ drug and alcohol use, though the specific effects vary slightly. Policy implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.

摘要

本研究的主要目的是检查大学生的物质使用情况，以确定影响物质使用和滥用的因素。具体来说，我们探讨了心理和人格特征对学生物质使用的影响。指导这项研究的两个研究问题：心理问题是否会增加个人使用药物和酒精等物质的风险？性格特征会增加使用物质的风险吗？为了解决这些问题，我们从就读于美国南部地区最大的公立大学之一的学生那里获得了数据。使用多元分析策略，该研究提出了几个重要的观察结果。首先，研究样本中吸毒和酗酒的频率较低。第二，心理问题和性格特征都可以预测学生吸毒和酗酒，尽管具体影响略有不同。讨论了研究结果的政策含义和未来研究的方向。