Depression and psychoactive substances consumption in Mexican college undergraduates

Abstract

Objective. To explore the relationship between risk of depression and psychoactive substances consumption in college undergra­duates. Methodology. Cross sectional descriptive study in which an instrument that included a) sociodemographic variables, b) Beck depression inventory II (BDI-II) and c) questions about psy­choactive substances consumption in life, in the last year and in the last month, was applied to 32 college undergraduates. Re­sults. 52.9% of the students had drunk alcohol and other 33.6% had smoked in the last month. For illicit substances: 3.7% used cocaine, 3.4% marihuana and 0.5% amphetamines. The risk of depression for the sample was: 6.6% had low risk, 3.4% mo­derate and 1.8% severe risk. Significant differences were found between consumers and non consumers DBI-II means in regards to: alcohol, tobacco, marihuana, and any illicit drug. Conclusion. College undergraduates who have consumed alcohol or marihua­na at least once in their life have a higher risk of depression com­pared to non consumers.