Demographic Characteristics and Substance Abuse among Sate University Students

This research investigated relationship between demographic characteristics and substance use among Iranian state universities. The sample consisted of 8352 students who were randomly selected according to their sex, faculty, and residence factors. Substance Use Prevalence Scale was used for gathering the data. Psychometric properties of the study instrument were reported suitable. The results showed that the ratios of substance abuse between male and female students are significantly different. For male students the ratios for all kinds of substances were higher than that of female students. The ratio of alcoholic drinks and opioid abuse were higher in older students. Moreover, the results showed that the dormitory residents were the most users of opioid and outside campus residents settled in student houses were the most users of alcoholic drinks. Therefore, it seems that there are close relations among variables like to sex, age, marital status, and residence. Putting these variables into consideration could be helpful in planning for preventing substance use.