School of Medicine, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran.
Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Epidemiol Health. 2018 Jul 2;40:e2018030. doi: 10.4178/epih.e2018030. eCollection 2018.
Substance abuse behaviors among university freshmen in Iran are poorly understood. This study aimed to identify, for the first time, subgroups of university freshmen in Iran on the basis of substance abuse behaviors. Moreover, it examined the effects of socio-demographic characteristics on membership in each specific subgroup.
Data for the study were collected cross-sectionally in December 2013 and January 2014 from 4 major cities in Iran: Tabriz, Qazvin, Karaj, and Khoramabad. A total of 5,252 first-semester freshmen were randomly selected using a proportional cluster sampling methodology. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data. Latent class analysis (LCA) was performed to identify subgroups of students on the basis of substance abuse behaviors and to examine the effects of students' socio-demographic characteristics on membership in each specific subgroup.
The LCA procedure identified 3 latent classes: the healthy group; the hookah experimenter group; and the unhealthy group. Approximately 82.8, 16.1, and 2.1% of students were classified into the healthy, hookah experimenter, and unhealthy groups, respectively. Older age, being male, and having a family member or a close friend who smoked increased the risk of membership in classes 2 and 3, compared to class 1.
Approximately 2.1% of freshmen exhibited unhealthy substance abuse behaviors. In addition, we found that older age, being male, and having a close friend or family member who smoked may serve as risk factors for substance abuse behaviors.
伊朗大学生的物质滥用行为了解甚少。本研究旨在首次根据物质滥用行为对伊朗大学生进行分组。此外，本研究还考察了社会人口特征对每个特定亚组的成员资格的影响。
本研究的数据于 2013 年 12 月和 2014 年 1 月从伊朗的四个主要城市：大不里士、加兹温、卡拉季和霍拉马巴德收集。采用比例聚类抽样方法，随机抽取了 5252 名第一学期的新生。使用调查问卷收集数据。采用潜在类别分析（LCA）根据物质滥用行为对学生进行分组，并考察学生的社会人口特征对每个特定亚组成员资格的影响。
LCA 程序确定了 3 个潜在类别：健康组；水烟实验者组；和不健康组。大约 82.8%、16.1%和 2.1%的学生分别被归类为健康组、水烟实验者组和不健康组。与第 1 组相比，年龄较大、男性以及有家庭成员或亲密朋友吸烟会增加第 2 组和第 3 组的成员风险。
大约 2.1%的新生表现出不健康的物质滥用行为。此外，我们发现年龄较大、男性以及有亲密朋友或家庭成员吸烟可能是物质滥用行为的危险因素。
