Elsa 2014 cohort: Classes of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use among argentinian college students

Abstract

Substance use is highly prevalent among college students in Argentina and the world. Differentiating users with different patterns of substance use is important to identify those at a higher vulnerability to progress towards pathological use. The aims were to identify, by means of Latent Class Analysis applied to different alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use indicators, the classes of substance use and analyze whether these classes exhibit differences in the density of relatives with a history of alcohol abuse and other alcohol use indicators. A total of 4.497 freshmen completed instruments to measure: 1-alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use, 2-alcohol related negative consequences, and 3-family history of alcohol abuse. Four classes of substance users were identified: 1-hatm: heavy alcohol use, with tobacco and marijuana use, 2-mha: moderate/high alcohol use, without other substances, 3-mla: moderate/low alcohol use, without other substances, and 4-ns: no substance use. The members of the hatm and mha classes reported significantly higher levels of alcohol use than the rest of the classes. hatm members presented extreme binge drinking. The ns and hatm classes exhibited a higher density of relatives with a history of alcohol abuse than the other classes. Most students were classified into high-risk consumption classes, characterized by co-use of substances or by heavy alcohol use. These patterns of substance use have been associated with a variety of negative consequences.