Individual and Environmental Factors Associated with Tobacco Smoking, Alcohol Abuse and Illegal Drug Consumption in University Students: A Mediating Analysis.

Substance abuse is a major and prevalent public health concern among university students. Tobacco smoking, risky alcohol behavior, and illegal drug consumption may lead to health problems and behavioral and academic issues. Several individual and environmental factors associate with substance abuse in this population, and the mediating effect of alcohol abuse in the relationship between tobacco smoking and drug consumption is yet to be explored. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the association of individual and environmental factors and substance use, and to analyze the relationship between tobacco smoking, alcohol abuse, and drug consumption, considering alcohol abuse as a possible mediator. A total of 550 Spanish undergraduate and postgraduate students completed several questionnaires regarding their smoking status, alcohol use, and drug consumption during the last six months. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to explore associations between factors. Direct, indirect and mediating effects were tested using a partial least squares approach (PLS-SEM). The results indicated that substance abuse is associated with being male, living with other students, and combined substance consumption. PLS-SEM showed a significant effect of tobacco smoking and alcohol abuse on drug consumption. Alcohol abuse plays a mediating role in the relationship between tobacco smoking and drug use.

Interrelation of Individual, Country and Activity Constraints in Motor Activities of Daily Living among Typically Developing Children: A Cross-sectional Comparison of Spanish and Dutch Populations.

Motor performance is influenced by individual, environmental, and task constraints. Children perform differently according to individual (i.e., sex), environmental (i.e., country), and task (i.e., type of activity) factors. However, little is known about the effect of the interaction between sex and country factors across different activities of daily living (ADL) learning, participation, and performance. The main aim of this study was to examine the relationship between sex, country, and type of activity in motor-based ADL learning, participation, and performance in five-to-eight-year-old, typically developing children. Additionally, we aimed to compare the prevalence of probable Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) across sex and country. The DCDDaily-Q was used to assess ADL learning, participation, and performance in 300 age and sex-matched children from Spain and The Netherlands. The prevalence of probable DCD was determined based on the total ADL performance score. Results showed that differences in ADL learning, participation and performance differed across sex and country (p < 0.05). Prevalence of probable DCD was statistically similar in both countries. These findings show that daily participation and performance in typically developing children may be influenced by individual, country, and task constraints, and that country and sex may have different influences on particular tasks.