Patterns of substance use across the first year of college and associated risk factors
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Starting college is a major life transition. This study aims to characterize patterns of substance use across a variety of substances across the first year of college and identify associated factors. We used data from the first cohort (N = 2056, 1240 females) of the "Spit for Science" sample, a study of incoming freshmen at a large urban university. Latent transition analysis was applied to alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and other illicit drug uses measured at the beginning of the fall semester and midway through the spring semester. Covariates across multiple domains - including personality, drinking motivations and expectancy, high school delinquency, peer deviance, stressful events, and symptoms of depression and anxiety - were included to predict the patterns of substance use and transitions between patterns across the first year. At both the fall and spring semesters, we identified three subgroups of participants with patterns of substance use characterized as: (1) use of all four substances; (2) alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use; and (3) overall low substance use. Patterns of substance use were highly stable across the first year of college: most students maintained their class membership from fall to spring, with just 7% of participants in the initial low substance users transitioning to spring alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis users. Most of the included covariates were predictive of the initial pattern of use, but covariates related to experiences across the first year of college were more predictive of the transition from the low to alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis user groups. Our results suggest that while there is an overall increase in alcohol use across all students, college students largely maintain their patterns of substance use across the first year. Risk factors experienced during the first year may be effective targets for preventing increases in substance use.
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College entrance is a stressful period with a high prevalence of mental disorders.
“College entrance is a stressful period with a high prevalence of mental disorders.”
From Severe role impairment associated with mental disorders: Results of the WHO World Mental Health Surveys International College Student Project (2018) · cites this paper as Cho et al., 2015
College is a peak period for mental disorders, particularly mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders.
“College is a peak period for mental disorders (Auerbach et al., 2016; Blanco et al., 2008; Cho et al., 2015; Eisenberg, Golberstein, & Gollust, 2007; Ibrahim, Kelly, Adams, & Glazebrook, 2013; Kendler, Myers, & Dick, 2015; Mojtabai et al., 2015; Vazquez, Torres, Otero, & Diaz, 2011), particularly mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders.”
From Severe role impairment associated with mental disorders: Results of the WHO World Mental Health Surveys International College Student Project (2018) · cites this paper as Cho et al., 2015
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- Authors
- Cho, S. B., Llaneza, D. C., Adkins, A. E., Cooke, M., Kendler, K. S., Clark, S. L., & Dick, D. M.
- Affiliations
- Virginia Commonwealth University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cho, Seung Bin
- Dick, Danielle M.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2015-10-27
- Volume
- 6
- Pages
- 152-152
- ISSN
- 1664-0640 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4621385
- OpenAlex
- W1932467206
- Cited by
- 68
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 4
- FWCI
- 6.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- VCU Scholars Compass (Virginia Commonwealth University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR031990)
- National Institutes of Health Roadmap for Medical Research (UL1RR031990)
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (P50 AA022537, K01AA021266)
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH020030)
- Virginia Commonwealth University (P20 AA107828, R37AA011408, K02AA018755)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Demography › Youth, Drugs, and Violence
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health and Lifestyle Studies
- Keywords
- university students, drug use patterns, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, cannabis use, illicit drug use, transition to college, risk factors, drinking motives, peer deviance, life events, depression, anxiety, substance use prevention
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