The Relationship Between Stress and Substance Use Among First-Year Medical Students: An Exploratory Investigation

A study of 937 first-year medical students from seven regional medical schools was conducted to determine if variables related to personal and academic stress, propensity for risk, and physical condition could significantly increase the predictability of selected substance use characteristics. The results indicated that drug and alcohol use were significantly correlated (< .001) as was the relationship between frequency of drinking and quantity of drinking (< .0001). Step-wise regression analyses showed a number of predictor variables to be correlated with substance use. Alcohol is the predominant substance used by medical students; illicit drug use is minimal in the first year of medical school.