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Psychosocial profiles of college students: chemical and Behavioural addictions

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Abstract

Addiction behaviours, whether referring to psychoactive substances or others of a behavioural dependencies, constitute a public health problem to be addressed. This cross-sectional and comparative exploratory study aims to identify the psychosocial profile of college students in terms of chemical and behavioural addictions. This convenience sample consisted of 260 adult college students (32 male), aged between 18 and 51 years old. Life Events Checklist 5 (LEC-5), Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist 5 (PCL-5), Childhood History Questionnaire, Experiences in Close Relationships-Relationship Structures Scale (ECR-RS), Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRPS), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) and Internet Addiction Test (IAT), were used. Using the Mann-Whitney U test, significant differences were found between the low-level alcohol consumers group and moderate to high-level consumers group in aggressiveness, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and insecure attachment. Regarding Internet addiction, the results reveal differences in terms of aggressiveness, insecure attachment, and secondary psychopathy between subjects with normative use and subjects addicted to the Internet. When compared to subjects without addictions, subjects with addiction behaviours experience more adverse childhood experiences (ACE), more PTSD symptoms, higher levels of aggressiveness, greater avoidance and anxiety in affective relationships, and more predisposition to manifest deviant psychopathy behaviours. This study contributes to identifying different psychosocial profiles of college students concerning chemical and behavioural addictions and highlights the impact of those profiles on aggressiveness, PTSD, and insecure attachment, essential for the design of more effective prevention and intervention programs with these specific groups.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the HEI-Lab: Digital Human-Environment Interaction Lab, Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport, University of Lusófona, Porto, Portugal, as well as the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of Oporto University for the collaboration/partnership in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HEI-Lab: Digital Human-Environment Interaction Lab, Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport, University of Lusófona (ULP), Rua Augusto Rosa, 24, 4000-098, Porto, Portugal

    Andreia de Moura & Maria José Ferreira

  2. Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport, University of Lusófona, Rua Augusto Rosa, 24, 4000-098, Porto, Portugal

    Natália Castro

  3. Department of Mathematics (DM. UTAD), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5001-801, Vila Real, Portugal

    Hélder Fernando Pedrosa e Sousa

  4. UFP Energy, Environment and Health Research Unit (FP-ENAS), University Fernando Pessoa, Praça 9 de Abril 349, 4249-004, Porto, Portugal

    Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis

  5. Faculty of Psychology, University of Lusíada, Rua Dr. Lopo de Carvalho, 4369-006, Porto, Portugal

    Lígia Ferros

  6. Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Praça 9 de Abril, 349, 4249-004, Porto, Portugal

    Sónia Caridade

  7. Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies (CIEG) of the Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences, University of Lisbon (ISCSP-UL), Rua Almerindo Lessa, 1300-663, Lisbon, Portugal

    Sónia Caridade

  8. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135, Porto, Portugal

    Jorge Negreiros

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  1. Andreia de Moura
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  2. Natália Castro
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All authors have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

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Correspondence to Sónia Caridade.

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de Moura, A., Castro, N., Pedrosa e Sousa, H.F. et al. Psychosocial profiles of college students: chemical and Behavioural addictions. Curr Psychol 42, 6328–6338 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01988-x

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