Drug Use and Life Satisfaction Among College Students

Abstract

Individuals use a variety of drugs for a host of reasons and college students are no exception. Reasons provided for specific types of “recreational” drug use have included, but have not been limited to, medicinal, social, mood enhancement, and experimentation. In an attempt to discern the relationship between drug use and life satisfaction among college students, a slightly modified version of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Monitoring the Future Survey was administered to 683 students attending a major research university located in the southwestern United States. Based on the obtained study results a life satisfaction composite variable was created via factor analysis. Additionally, a polynomial multiple regression analysis was conducted to discern the association between the derived life satisfaction composite variable and drug use indices.