RT Journal Article
T1 Mental health and drug use in college students: should we take action?
A1 Pérez Pérez, Teresa
A1 Pardo Llorente, M. Del Carmen
A1 Cabellos Hurtado, Yolanda
A1 Peressini Álvarez, Melina
A1 Ureña Vacas, Isabel María
A1 Serrano López, Dolores Remedios
A1 González Burgos, Elena María
AB Background: College students are vulnerable to suffering from anxiety and depression. Moreover, mental disorders can contribute to drug consumption or inappropriate use of prescribed drugs. Studies on this topic in Spanish college students are limited. This work analyses anxiety and depression and psychoactive drug intake pattern in the post-COVID era in college students. Methods: An online survey was conducted among college students from UCM (Spain). The survey collected data including demographic, academic student perception, GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scales, and psychoactive substances consumption. Results: A total of 6,798 students were included; 44.1% (CI95%: 42.9 to 45.3) showed symptoms of severe anxiety and 46.5% (CI95%: 45.4 to 47.8) symptoms of severe or moderately severe depression. The perception of these symptoms did not change after returning to face-to-face university classes in the post-COVID19 era. Despite the high percentage of cases with clear symptoms of anxiety and depression, most students never had a diagnosis of mental illnesses [anxiety 69.2% (CI95%: 68.1 to 70.3) and depression 78.1% (CI95%: 77.1 to 79.1)]. Regarding psychoactive substances, valerian, melatonin, diazepam, and lorazepam were the most consumed. The most worrying issue was the consumption of diazepam, 10.8% (CI95%: 9.8 to 11.8), and lorazepam, 7.7% (CI95%: 6.9 to 8.6) without medical prescription. Amongst illicit drugs, cannabis is the most consumed.Limitations: The study was based on an online survey.Conclusions: The high prevalence of anxiety and depression aligned with poor medical diagnosis and high intake of psychoactive drugs should not be underestimated. University policies should be implemented to improve the well-being of students.
PB Elsevier
SN 0165-0327
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/72394
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/72394
LA eng
NO Pérez, Teresa, M. Carmen Pardo, Yolanda Cabellos, Melina Peressini, Isabel Ureña-Vacas, Dolores R. Serrano, y Elena González-Burgos. «Mental Health and Drug Use in College Students: Should We Take Action?» Journal of Affective Disorders 338 (octubre de 2023): 32-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.05.080.
NO Observatorio del Estudiante, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
DS Docta Complutense
RD 8 abr 2025