Construction and Validation of A Model of Using Addictive Substances and the Relevant Factors among College Students:Taipei Area as an Example

• Main Authors: Jane-Minge Lee, 李建明
• Other Authors: Ching-Mei Lee
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/99237921194585636918

博士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 健康促進與衛生教育學系 === 99 === In recent years, with the booming economy followed by an abundant supply of food and clothing in Taiwan, people pursue high quality of life and often result in diseases of civilization. Meanwhile, coping with work or school stress and interpersonal communication problems also leads to unhealthy lifestyles both physically and mentally, such as eating disorders and lack of physical activity. College students are the future of our country, and a country's prosperity is tied to the quality of students’ physical and mental health. However, a variety of health risk behaviors have emerged, such as smoking, drinking, chewing betel nut and drug abuse, under the influence of the rapid changes in the social structure and social values, and the stress from individuals, families, schools and all aspects of the social environment. Therefore, the current study investigated how individual, family or school environment factors affected the use of addictive substances among the college students. This is indeed a serious issue to be concerned by workers involved in higher education. Objective: This study aims to construct a theoretical model that describes the use of addictive substances by college students. Through the empirical data analysis and the application of the ecological systems theory, the current study examined whether using addictive substances by college students was affected by socio-demographic variables, individual, family and school environment factors. This study further investigated the effects and the predictive power of socio-demographic variables, individual, family and school environment factors. Methods: The population included college students in 30 universities from four categories (national/municipal/private universities and the universities of science and technology) located in the Taipei City and New Taipei City, and a two-phase sampling procedure was adopted. In the first phase, ten universities were randomly selected; they were further divided into two categories in the second phase: Humanities and Social Sciences (literature, law, and business) and Technology and Nature Science (science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine). Thirteen hundred questionnaires were distributed, and among them, a total of 1140 copies were valid with a return rate of 87.6%. Data were analyzed by using SPSS (version 18.0) and AMOS (version 17.0) to perform percent frequency distribution, average, factor analysis, multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). Based on the model constructed in the current study, empirical data analysis was carried out to describe the use of addictive substances by college students. Results: 1.Few college students in the Taipei District chewed betelnuts and used drugs. Up to 61% of students drink alcohol and 17% of students smoked. 2.The social demographic variables, including gender, family structure, mother's occupation, residence, academic year and university category, accounted for 10% of the variance of using addictive substances. 3.Individual factors, such as self-esteem and personality traits, showed a direct influence on the use of addictive substances by college students. 4.Individual, family and school environment factors accounted for 8% of the variance of using addictive substances. Based on the study findings, the current study proposed several suggestions on how to effectively reduce the use of addictive substances by college students and directions for future research. The results provide insight to the prevention and support system at the level of individuals, schools and education-related departments, in the hope that schools or policy departments can establish critical health policies and develop a comprehensive package of measures as soon as possible so that follow-up health education and studies will create more research findings.