Addictive profiles of Lebanese university students in terms of smoking, alcohol, and illegal drug use

Abstract

The Lebanese economic crisis, financial crisis, and USD shortage were conducive to an increased drug addiction especially for students who feel that their future in Lebanon is not safe, as well as the psychological fragility of the Lebanese people, and the more permissive sociocultural context. Our study aimed to assess the addiction levels and profiles of university students in Lebanon, and thus to evaluate the rapid rising in dependence regarding smoking, alcohol, and illegal drug use during this crisis. This cross-sectional study was carried out between February and September 2020. A total of 467 participants (315 females, 152 males; Mage = 23.48 ± 6.03) were recruited through convenience sampling through several universities in Lebanon's governorates. Participants received the online link to the survey. Students were divided into three clusters as follows: cluster 1, which corresponds to students with moderate addictions; cluster 2, which corresponds to students with high addictions; and cluster 3, which corresponds to students with low addictions. When comparing cluster 1 to cluster 3, the results of the multinomial regression showed that older age (aOR=1.08) and having a high monthly income compared to no income (aOR=2.78) were significantly associated with higher odds of being in cluster 1 compared to cluster 3. When comparing cluster 2 to cluster 3, the results of the multinomial regression showed that female gender (aOR=0.19) was significantly associated with lower odds of being in cluster 2 compared to cluster 3, whereas having a dead (aOR=16.38) or divorced parent (aOR=6.54) and having a low (aOR=3.93) or intermediate income compared to zero income (aOR=4.71) were significantly associated with higher odds of being in cluster 2 compared to cluster 3. The results of our study revealed a considerable prevalence of addiction to alcohol, illicit drugs, and specially to smoking, among Lebanese university students. These findings emphasize the need to implement firm policies and rules in an attempt to minimize the tendency of the young population to engage in such addictions.

Alcohol Use Disorders among Slovak and Czech University Students: A Closer Look at Tobacco Use, Cannabis Use and Socio-Demographic Characteristics

“…Young people, especially university students, are a population group at risk of unhealthy and harmful behaviours in terms of the use of addictive substances such as alcohol, tobacco or cannabis [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. The vulnerability of this population group is evidenced by a considerable prevalence of dependence to alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs [ 4 ]. All these facts are the result of a new stage of life focused more on their personality, as they are curious and want to fit into the team, experience sensation and build their own social identity [ 5 , 6 ].…”

The Prevalence of Substance Use Disorder Among University Students in Amman, Jordan

“…This result is congruent with numerous studies in Northern Ireland, Wales, England, the City of Jahrom, Southern Iran, and Lebanon. 8,18,22 Furthermore, we found a positive relationship between large family size and illegal substance use (p=0.011). Notably, being a part of larger families is not unknown in the region, so the relationship between the illicit usage of substances and large family size could be an unfit measure of significance.…”

“…However, this use pattern leads to the slow development of dependence. 18 In our study of the sample that reported substance use, the monthly and daily users were 5% and 7.2%, respectively, and the yearly consumption was the commonest at 77.1%.…”

Food insecurity and mental health of college students in Lebanon: a cross-sectional study

“…Another potential explanation may be attributed to the ongoing collective crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, August 4th Port explosion, political and economic turmoil in the country that may have increased the mental health challenges faced by young adults over the past few years in Lebanon. Resarchers have shown that with the COVID-19 pandemic and the deterioration of the Lebanese economy and political state, young adults are appearing to be negatively impacted by the ongoing crises on multiple physical and mental health levels ( 21 , 45 ) . Moreover, the depression and anxiety levels reported in the present study were also significantly higher than those reported among college students in HICs such as the US (12·8 and 15·9 %) ( 44 ) and Canada (19 and 32·6 %) ( 46 ) .…”