Self-regulation skills, alcohol use and polydrug use among university students

1. Self-regulation skills, alcohol use and polydrug use among university students Rene Sebena1, Rafael Mikolajczyk2, Olga Orosova3 Affiliations: 1 PJ Safarik University in Kosice, Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology, Slovak Republic 2 BIPS - Institute for Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Germany 5 PJ Safarik University in Kosice, Faculty of Arts, Department of Educational Psychology and Health Psychology, Slovak Republic Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-20-038205 and the Slovak Academy of Sciences under Contract No. VEGA 1/1092/12.

2. self-regulation • the ability of an individual to manage his own behavior through observation, evaluation, and consequation • importance for task performance, school and work success, popularity, mental health and adjustment, and good interpersonal relationships and to avoid problematic use of internet and alcohol use

3. Alcohol Use and Illicit Drug Use in University Students • some surveys of university students suggest that alcohol and illicit drug use has risen • binge drinking appears to be associated with the use of a variety of other illicit drugs

4. Aim of this study • We aimed to investigate the relationship between self-regulation skills, alcohol use and polydrug use among university students.

5. Methods - Sample • data from 1st wave of the Student Life Cohort in Europe – SLiCE • self-administered online questionnaire • 814 freshmen • mean age – 19.61 • 75.2 % female • three universities in Kosice, Slovakia – PJ. Safarik University, the University of Veterinary Medicine and the Technical University

6. Measures The Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSRQ; Carey et al., 2004) 31-item questionnaire, 1–5 scale (1-strongly disagree to 5-strongly agree) Cronbach's Alpha - 0.91

7. Alcohol and polydrug use AUDIT - Alcohol use disorders identification test 10 items, each scored from 0 to 4. “How often in the last month have you used the following drugs?” • list of eight drugs (Marijuana, Amphetamines, Cocaine, Heroine, Ecstasy, Mushrooms, LSD, Anabolic steroids) • responses: 1 - never, 2 – once a month, 3 – twice a month, 4 – once a week, 5 – twice a week, 6 – four times a week 7-every day • polydrug use (sum score of eight drug items).

8. Statistical analysis • Linear regression was performed to assess the relationship between self-regulation, alcohol use and the polydruguse

9. Table 1. Description of the sample with respect to total AUDIT scores.

10. Table 2. Use of selected substances in the past month How often in the last month have you used the following drugs?

11. Table 4. Relationship between self-regulation, alcohol use and the polydrug use R2=.094

12. Conclusion • lower levels of self-regulation skills being associated with a higher level of polydrug use • higher level of alcohol use being associated with a higher level of polydrug use • relationship equivalent for both genders • low self-regulation skills and alcohol use might lead to increased polydrug use

13. Limitations • non-normality of criterion variable • cross-sectional design • representativeness • social expectation bias

14. Thank you for your attention.