Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018;16(1):125-135.
doi: 10.1007/s11469-017-9812-5. Epub 2017 Sep 27.

Substance Use and Psychological Disorders Among Art and Non-art University Students: an Empirical Self-Report Survey

Fruzsina Iszáj  1 , Máté Kapitány-Fövény  1   2   3 , Judit Farkas  1   3 , Gyöngyi Kökönyei  1 , Róbert Urbán  4 , Mark D Griffiths  5 , Zsolt Demetrovics  1
Affiliations

Substance Use and Psychological Disorders Among Art and Non-art University Students: an Empirical Self-Report Survey

Fruzsina Iszáj et al. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2018.

Abstract

Media stories often suggest that those working in the creative arts appear to use and abuse psychoactive substances. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between the use of psychoactive substances and the presence of psychological disorders among art and non-art students. Questionnaires related to these two areas were completed by 182 art students in higher education and a control group of 704 non-art university students. To assess psychoactive substance use, a structured questionnaire including the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test (CAST) and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) was administered to participants. Psychological disorders were assessed using the Hungarian version of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the Global Severity Index (GSI). After analyzing the data, significant differences were found between the two groups regarding their first use of psychoactive substances. Art students' current substance use was found to be significantly more frequent compared to the control group. In relation to psychological disorders, art students scored significantly higher on three scales of the BSI (i.e., psychoticism, hostility, and phobic anxiety). Overall, a significantly higher proportion of artists were labeled as "problematic" using the GSI. The results suggest that artists have a higher risk of both substance use and experiencing psychological disorders.

Keywords: Alcohol; Art; Cannabis; Psychoactive substance use; Psychological disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All the participants provided informed concent and the study was approved by the research team's university ethics committee.The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of University’s Research Ethics Board and with the 1975 Helsinki Declaration.Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Association between being an artist and specific aspects of substance use (onset of use, types of substances ever used) (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Path analysis model of past month alcohol and cannabis use (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Andreasen NC. Creativity and mental illness: prevalence rates in writers and their first-degree relatives. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1987;144(10):1288–1292. doi: 10.1176/ajp.144.10.1288. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Babor TF, Higgins-Biddle JC, Saunders JB, Monteiro MG. The alcohol use disorders identification test, guidelines for use in primary care. second. Switzerland: Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence, World Health Organization; 2001.
    1. Degenhardt L, Hall W, Lynskey M. Alcohol, cannabis and tobacco use among Australians: a comparison of their associations with other drug use and use disorders, affective and anxiety disorders, and psychosis. Addiction. 2001;96(11):1603–1614. doi: 10.1046/j.1360-0443.2001.961116037.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Derogatis L, Melisaratos N. The brief symptom inventory: an introductory report. Psychological Medicine. 1983;13(3):595–605. doi: 10.1017/S0033291700048017. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dobkin de Rios M, Janiger O. LSD, spirituality, and the creative process. Rochester: Park Street Press; 2003.

LinkOut - more resources