| Title |
Illicit drug use among university students in Lithuania: age, gender differences and correlation with lifestyle |
| Authors |
Rupšienė, Liudmila ; Saveljeva, Regina ; Baranauskienė, Ingrida ; Batuchina, Aleksandra |
| DOI |
10.21277/sw.v1i7.282 |
| Full Text |
|
| Is Part of |
Social welfare : interdisciplinary approach.. Šiauliai : Šiauliai university. 2017, vol. 7 (1), p. 33-44.. ISSN 2029-7424. eISSN 2424-3876 |
| Keywords [eng] |
illicit drug use ; students ; higher education |
| Abstract [eng] |
The article presents the research aiming at answering a question What is the illegal drug use among university students in Lithuania and what is its correlation with the age, gender and lifestyle? When forming a research sample it was aimed to make it representative. The research data has been collected from 18 Lithuanian universities which gave consent to take part in the research. The questionnaire was filled in by 1087 students: 37% males and 63% females. The average age of the respondents was 21 years, the minimal age was 18, the maximum age was 29. The ESPAD questionnaire (http://www.espad. org/) was adapted for the research. When assessing reliability of the scale to measure the illicit drug use in lifetime it was found out that Cronbach’s alpha was 0.714. Moreover, there were no variables whose resolution r/itt was lesser than 0.2. To test normality of distributions we applied Kolmogorov- Smirnov criterion. Variables of the scale were not distributed according to the normal law (K-S Z=0.321, p<0.05); therefore, differences have been estimated by applying Mann-Whitney criterion. To explore the correlation between the illicit drug use and lifestyle variables, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was applied. The research study highlighted the factors that influenced the involvement into the illicit drug use (lack of activities; wish to relax; low self-esteem). The factors that help to avoid the illicit drug use are physical activity; development of a healthy lifestyle; fear to harm one’s health; religion as a protective factor. Neutral factors, i.e. such factors which may encourage involvement into the drug use and they can be referred to when involving young individuals into preventive activities, are curiosity, family life model, changed circumstances of studying. The research results show that cannabis is the most popular illicit drug among the Lithuanian university students; it was used by 40% of the respondents. [...]. |
| Published |
Šiauliai : Šiauliai university |
| Type |
Journal article |
| Language |
English |
| Publication date |
2017 |
| CC license |
|
