ABSTRACT

Aim: Substance use in students is a serious problem around the world. This study aimed to determine the status of substance use and its relationship with religious beliefs and familial support and other related factors in Iranian university students.

Study design: Cross sectional study.

Methodology: This study took place in Hormozgan (south of Iran) in 2016. The randomly selected sample consisted of 524 university students. A self-report questionnaire had been used examining substance use, religious beliefs and familial support. All of analysis was performed using chi-square test, binary logistic regression in SPSS 16 software. The level of significance was 0.05. Results: The lifetime, last year, last month and daily or almost daily prevalence of substance use was 20.8, 14.9, 8.8 and 2.1%, respectively. After adjusting for other factors, living in single home (OR=5.02), cigarette smoking (OR=20.62), hookah smoking (OR=5.22), and score of familial support (OR=0.94) were associate with last year substance use. Among all substances, the prevalence of alcohol use was the highest (18.3% in lifetime and 6.9% in last month) and the prevalence of Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) was the lowest one (2.3% in lifetime and 1.9% in last month). Conclusion: The prevalence of substance use among Iranian university students is relatively high. The findings of this study can be used in planning and evaluating intervention by considering risk and protective factors.

Keywords: Substance use, University students, religiosity, familial support, illicit drug.