Subjective Well-Being and Drug Use Among Adolescents in Veracruz in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about various changes in lifestyle dynamics and mental health for the general population, particularly among adolescents, whose levels of well-being were altered, placing them in vulnerable conditions. Based on this, the objective was to compare living conditions and the perception of subjective well-being in two groups of high school students: drug users (those who have used a psychoactive substance at least once in their lifetime) and non-users (abstainers). Using a non-experimental, cross-sectional, ex post facto design, a questionnaire was administered to 394 students from the state of Veracruz, Mexico (58.1% female, 39.1% male, 2.8% other gender [non-binary]), aged between 14 and 17 years (M = 15.2, SD = 0.59). The instrument included the Subjective Well-Being and Living Conditions Scale, as well as a block of items exploring the use of psychoactive substances (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines). The results showed that 10.7% acknowledged having used a drug, and this group recorded significantly lower average scores in the dimensions of subjective well-being: lower happiness and life satisfaction (p < .01), lower educational, economic, and emotional well-being (p < .05), lower satisfaction with life domains (p < .01), and lower satisfaction with public goods and services (p < .05). These findings underscore the need to develop intervention strategies for adolescents, as they may be in more vulnerable conditions.