Substance Use among Belgian Higher Education Students before and during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Robert Tholen, Koen Ponnet, Guido Van Hal, Sara De Bruyn, Veerle Buffel, Sarah Van de Velde, Piet Bracke and Edwin Wouters
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Robert Tholen: Center for Population, Family and Health, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Koen Ponnet: Department of Communication Studies, imec-mict, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Guido Van Hal: Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, Social Epidemiology and Health Policy, University of Antwerp, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium
Sara De Bruyn: Center for Population, Family and Health, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Veerle Buffel: Center for Population, Family and Health, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Sarah Van de Velde: Center for Population, Family and Health, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Piet Bracke: Department of Sociology, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Edwin Wouters: Center for Population, Family and Health, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 7, 1-13

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic prompted many countries to issue far-reaching policy measures that may have led to increased substance use. Higher education students may have been disproportionally affected due to the rearrangement of educational life and their susceptibility to psychosocial distress and substance use. The current study examined associations between pandemic-related stressors, psychosocial distress, and self-reported alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use before and during the first wave of the pandemic. Data were collected in Belgium as part of the COVID-19 International Student Well-being Study (C19 ISWS) and analyzed using multinomial logistic regression analyses. The sample contained 18,346 higher education students aged 17 to 24 (75% women). Overall use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis as well as binge drinking decreased during the pandemic, perhaps due to limited social gatherings. Moving back to the parental home was associated with decreased substance use, while depressive symptoms were associated with increased substance use. Perceived threat and academic stress were associated with increased binge drinking among heavy bingers and increased tobacco use. Decreases among students who moved back to their parental home may be explained by increased informal social control. Increased substance use was associated with a number of stressors and psychosocial distress, which suggests that some students may have been self-medicating to manage their mental health amidst the pandemic. Public health policy concerning substance use may prove to be less effective if not tailored to particular subgroups within the student population.

Keywords: substance use; higher education students; COVID-19; psychosocial distress; quarantine stressors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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