Psychoactive substance use among undergraduate students of Mizan-Tepi University in Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract Students’ use of psychoactive substances is a significant public health issue around the world. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence, associated factors, and related problems of psychoactive substance use among undergraduate students at Mizan-Tepi University in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 544 regular undergraduate students. The data were collected using a pre-tested self-administered structured questionnaire. The data analysis was done using SPSS version 21. The level of significance in the multivariable logistic regression analysis was declared at a p-value <0.05. Of the 544 respondents interviewed, the lifetime and current prevalence of psychoactive substance use among undergraduate students was 62.5% and 27.9% respectively. The factors associated with current psychoactive substance use were being male (AOR = 3.01, 95% CI [1.64–5.53]), being Muslim (AOR = 3.13, 95% CI [1.64–5.96]), from urban residence (AOR = 3.12, 95% CI [3.01–5.31]), having divorced/separated parents (AOR = 3.08, 95% CI [1.64–5.79]), having family substance use (AOR = 7.98, 95% CI [5.52–11.6]) and peer substance use (AOR = 4.33, 95% CI [2.68–7.26]). Of the 332 reported substance-related problems, 96 (28.9%) had oral/gastric problems followed by frequent loss of appetite (78, 23.5%). The current prevalence of psychoactive substance use was substantially higher than in other studies in Ethiopia. The study also found that sociodemographic, familial and peer factors were factors associated with psychoactive substance use. Therefore, higher education institutions should consider designing programs to control substance use among students to improve student health and academic performance.