Psychotic-like Experiences and Substance Use in College Students

Psychotic disorders, as well as psychotic-like experiences and substance use, have been found to be associated. The main goal of the present study was to analyse the relationship between psychotic-like experiences and substance use in college students. The sample comprised a total of 660 participants (M = 20.3 years, SD = 2.6). The results showed that 96% of the sample reported some delusional experience, while 20.3% reported at least one positive psychotic-like experience. Some substance use was reported by 41.1% of the sample, differing in terms of gender. Substance users reported more psychotic-like experiences than non-users, especially in the positive dimension. Also, alcohol consumption predicted in most cases extreme scores on measures of delusional ideation and psychotic experiences. The association between these two variables showed a differentiated pattern, with a stronger relationship between substance use and cognitive-perceptual psychotic-like experiences. To some extent, these findings support the dimensional models of the psychosis phenotype and contribute a better understanding of the links between psychotic-like experiences and substance use in young adults. Future studies should further explore the role of different risk factors for psychotic disorders and include models of the gene-environment interaction.