University students' perceived norms of peers and drug use: a multicentric study in five Latin American countries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-11692009000700013Keywords:
alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, cocaineAbstract
This cross-sectional study compared perceived peer drug use and actual drug use in a sample of Latin American university students. Students from nine universities in five countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Honduras and Peru) completed a questionnaire that addressed the use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and cocaine. Analysis focused on comparing perceptions to actual drug use. The findings largely, but not completely, confirmed the idea that students overestimate peer drug use. The unexpected findings were those relating to alcohol. While students generally overestimated peer use of tobacco, marijuana and cocaine, they accurately estimated or underestimated peer use of alcohol. Apart from the anomalous findings with regard to alcohol, this study shows that perceived drug use relates to actual drug use in Latin America as it does elsewhere. The results also support the suggestion that interventions using normative feedback would be useful to strengthen drug use prevention programs aimed at youth in Latin America.Downloads
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Published
2009-01-01
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Original Articles
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RLAE’s authorship concept is based on the substantial contribution by each of the individuals listed as authors, mainly in terms of conceiving and planning the research project, collecting or analyzing and interpreting data, writing and critical review. Indication of authors’ names under the article title is limited to six. If more, authors are listed on the online submission form under Acknowledgements. The possibility of including more than six authors will only be examined on multicenter studies, considering the explanations presented by the authors.Including names of authors whose contribution does not fit into the above criteria cannot be justified. Those names can be included in the Acknowledgements section.
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How to Cite
University students’ perceived norms of peers and drug use: a multicentric study in five Latin American countries. (2009). Revista Latino-Americana De Enfermagem, 17(spe), 838-843. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-11692009000700013