Academic performance and consumption of alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine among undergraduate students from RibeirÃo Preto – Brazil

Abstract

Objective: to determine alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine use, abuse, and dependence, and to identify the association between the use of these substances and the academic performance of undergraduate students. Method: a cross-sectional study with 275 undergraduate students from health and humanities courses at a university in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. The instruments used were the Questionnaire for Screening the Use of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Substances and the student’s self-report on their performance considering a scale from zero to 10. For analysis, Fisher’s Exact Test and Pearson’s Chi-square test were used. Results: the pattern of alcohol and cocaine use in the sample studied was similar to the national average; however the prevalence of marijuana abuse was higher than the average. The use of marijuana was associated with the students’ academic performance in this study. Conclusion: the same association between abuse of and dependence on marijuana was not identified in the sample studied.