Frequency of smoking, alcohol and addictive drug use in a university in east of Turkey and the factors affecting

The use of cigarettes and addictive drugs in the young generation is an important problem of public health. This research has been done with the aim of determining the frequency of cigarettes, alcohol and drug use and the factors influencing them.

This cross-sectional research was conducted on 2258 students in Firat University in the city of Elazig, of Eastern Turkey. The sampling group was students only, who were randomly selected from the each department of the university. The research was administered under direct observation.

The average age of the students conducted is 21.36±2.93 and 70.3% of this group is male and 29.7% is female students. Currently 29.3% of the students smoke and 26.9% of them use alcohol. 6.6% have declared that they have used an addictive substance other than cigarettes and alcohol at least once. The students smoking, have higher monthly family income and allowances compared to the non-smokers (P<0.05). Again the frequency of smoking in students who have fathers, siblings and close friends smoking, tend to be higher (P<0.05). The survey shows that the students using alcohol are not influenced by their fathers (P>0.05), however the use of alcohol is higher in students having close friends using alcohol (P<0.05). Of the students who participated in the survey, 6.3% declared that they know of other classmates who are using addictive substances other than cigarettes and alcohol and 12.4% declared that they know of other friends outside from their classroom who are using addictive drugs.

It is observed that there is a considerable rate of smoking and alcohol use and that it is quite possible to try addictive drugs in the university students participated in the survey. Educational programs oriented to young people must be prioritized in order to inform, to make conscious of and to protect.

Key words: Smoking, alcohol, addictive drugs, university students.