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Spirituality, gender, and drug use among students from one University in Barbados

2015; Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Programa de Pós Graduação em Enfermagem; Volume: 24; Issue: spe Linguagem: Inglês

10.1590/0104-07072015001140014

1980-265X

M Jules, Samuel Noh, Hayley A. Hamilton, Bruna Brands, Denise Gastaldo, Maria da Glória Miotto Wright, Francisco Cumsille, Akwatu Khenti,

Religion and Society in Latin America

The research aimed to clarify the relationships between spirituality, gender, and drug use among undergraduate students of one university in Barbados. A quota sample of 250 students was required from the Faculty of Social Sciences as the study was part of a larger multi-centric study involving students from the Faculty of Social Sciences from seven other participating countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Significant negative relationships were found between a student's level of spirituality and their licit and illicit drug use over the past 12 and three months. Males and females also differed significantly in terms of illicit drug use (past 12 and three months). However no gender differences were found as it related to licit drug use. Moreover, females possessed significantly higher levels of spirituality than their male counterparts. Further qualitative research should be conducted among this age group within the Barbadian context to better explain these findings.