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Co-occurring addictive behaviors: an analysis of risk profiles among university students

Abstract Objectives: The first goal of this study was to empirically identify, among university students, groups with varying levels of risk based on indicators of gambling and substance use. The second goal was to compare the identified groups on various demographic characteristics. Methods: The study comprised of 2139 full-time undergraduate students, representative of university students in Montreal, Canada. A 3-step latent class logistic regression analysis was performed to identify groups and compare them on demographic characteristics. Results: The statistical fit indices of the latent class analysis revealed a four-class solution. Class 1 (30.1% of the sample) included non-gamblers with low probabilities of substance use. Class 2 (11.2% of the sample) grouped non-gamblers with high-risk patterns of consumption. Class 3 (36.42% of the sample) included gamblers who are low-risk substance users, and individuals in Class 4 (22.25% of the sample) reported risky patterns of gambling and substance-using behaviors. Results of the logistic regression suggested that gender, being born in Canada, and working full- or part-time are significant predictors of class membership. Participants in both groups labeled at-risk (with and without gambling) were also more likely to report psychological distress and to live outside the family environment. Conclusions: This study raises important questions regarding the choice of preventive models and feeds into the long-standing debate around universal versus high-risk approaches.