Sports Activity and Smoking, Alcohol and Drug Abuse among Students

Background. Despite the research being accomplished so far, there is no clear answer to the question that "Does sports help to prevent and reducing the abuse of drug, alcohol, and smoking in young people as it believed in public". Objective(s). The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between sports activity and experience of smoking, alcohol and drug abuse among a sample of male and female students in Tehran. Methods. In a cross-sectional and correlation study, 1173 male and female students from two universities; University of Tehran and Tehran University of Medical Sciences were selected to complete researcher-made questionnaires on smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, and also complete demographic questionnaires. They also responded to a sports activity questionnaire, including questions about the type and level of teamwork and activity. Results. The findings showed that males are relatively regular in sports activities than females and they are also members of sports teams. Smoking, alcohol and drug abuse were significantly higher in males than in females. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that there is no significant relationship between being athlete in males, whether they are members of the team or not, and the smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, but unorganized female athletes, outside the framework of sports teams, had reported more alcohol and drug abuse than inactive people during a year ago. Conclusion. In order to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of programs for the prevention of drug abuse through sport, paying attention to gender differences, age differences and type of sports activity (organized in the form of teams or non-organized and individually) is critical. The findings of this study suggest that membership in sports teams of a college, especially for females should be expanded, and preventive programs should be designed through sport in a professional way –in terms of timing and content- for males and females.