Center for Teacher Education, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
Department of Sociology and Department of Psychology, National Chengchi University, 64, Section 2, Zhinan Rd., Taipei City, Taiwan.
BMC Public Health. 2020 Oct 30;20(1):1631. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09722-1.
Numerous studies have documented factors that are associated with substance use behaviors among college-aged individuals. However, relatively few studies have considered the heterogeneity of the college experience by field of study (i.e., college major) and how that educational context might affect students' health behaviors differently. Drawing from theories and prior research, this study investigates whether college majors are associated with different substance use behaviors, both during college and upon graduation.
The study analyzed longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97 (N = 1031), specifically data on individuals who obtained a bachelor's degree, to examine the associations between college fields of study and trajectories of three substance use behaviors: smoking, heavy alcohol use, and marijuana use.
The results indicate that social science and business majors were associated with more substance use behaviors than arts and humanities and STEM majors. However, social science majors were associated with a faster decrease in substance use behaviors over time. Importantly, the differences we found in mean levels of substance use behaviors and trajectories were not explained by demographic characteristics, family SES background, childhood health conditions, and employment experience. Further analysis that examined college major and each substance use behavior individually suggests that the associations were stronger for heavy alcohol use and marijuana use. Moreover, we found the associations were more pronounced in men than women.
The study finds that not all college majors show the same level of engagement in substance use behaviors over time, and that the associations also vary by (1) the specific substance use behavior examined and (2) by gender. These findings suggest it is important to consider that the different learning and educational contexts that college majors provide may also be more or less supportive of certain health behaviors, such as substance use. Practical implications are discussed.
许多研究记录了与大学生物质使用行为相关的因素。然而，相对较少的研究考虑了学习领域（即大学专业）的大学生经历的异质性，以及这种教育背景如何以不同的方式影响学生的健康行为。本研究借鉴理论和先前的研究，调查了大学专业是否与不同的物质使用行为相关，包括大学期间和毕业后。
该研究分析了来自国家青年纵向调查 97 号（N=1031）的纵向数据，特别是关于获得学士学位的个人的数据，以检验大学专业与三种物质使用行为（吸烟、大量饮酒和大麻使用）的轨迹之间的关联。
结果表明，社会科学和商业专业的物质使用行为比艺术和人文学科以及 STEM 专业更多。然而，社会科学专业的物质使用行为随着时间的推移呈下降趋势。重要的是，我们在物质使用行为和轨迹的平均水平上发现的差异不能用人口特征、家庭 SES 背景、儿童健康状况和就业经验来解释。进一步分析表明，社会科学专业与大量饮酒和大麻使用的关联更强。此外，我们发现这些关联在男性中比女性中更为明显。
该研究发现，并非所有大学专业在不同时间都表现出相同水平的物质使用行为，而且关联也因（1）所研究的特定物质使用行为和（2）性别而异。这些发现表明，考虑到大学专业提供的不同学习和教育背景可能更或更少支持某些健康行为（如物质使用）是很重要的。讨论了实际意义。
