Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms and lifetime use of psychoactive substances among French university students: A cross-sectional study

Introduction

University students have high prevalence of psychoactive substance use and face attendant risks such as mental health problems, academic difficulties, and risky behaviours. Earlier research has established links between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substance use, particularly for alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and cocaine, but evidence is sparse for a wider range of illicit substances. The authors note gaps in the literature for substances such as ketamine, crack, nitrous oxide and poppers, and an absence of studies treating ADHD symptoms as a predictor of the count of lifetime psychoactive substances used. Jean and colleagues set out to examine, in a large sample of French university students, whether ADHD symptoms are associated cross-sectionally with 1) lifetime use of a broad panel of psychoactive substances (including several illicit drugs not widely studied before), and 2) the count of lifetime psychoactive substances used. The working hypothesis was that higher ADHD symptom levels would be linked both to a wider variety of substances used and to polysubstance use.