Differences in the psychoactive substances use in high school students in the Veracruz State, according to their school grade

Abstract

This manuscript is part of the study Psychosocial factors associated with drug use in adolescents in the Gulf of Mexico states, in which one of its specific objectives involved exploring the differences in the consumption of psychoactive substances according to the school grade, in a group of students from the three high school grades located in the state of Veracruz. The study design was multicenter, non-experimental, cross-sectional, ex post facto, with the participation of 1,012 students. The results show that second-year high school students reported a significantly higher consumption “sometime in their life” of tobacco, as well as illicit drugs, compared to first- and third-year students; third-year students reported a “sometime in their life” consumption of alcoholic beverages. In contrast, in the “last twelve months” and in the “last 30 days,” second-year students reported higher tobacco use, third-year students higher alcohol use, and third-year students higher illegal drug use. The findings allow us to identify that the consumption of psychoactive substances is complex among high school students when considering the grade, since there is a high consumption of tobacco and alcohol, and although the use of other drugs is low, it is recorded in greater proportion among first-year students, which invites the creation of preventive mechanisms at earlier ages.