Physical Violence Perpetration Among College Students: Prevalence and Associations With Substance Use and Mental Health Symptoms

Summary & key facts

Researchers analyzed large college survey data to see how common physical violence was and how it linked to substance use and mental health. They used surveys from about 181,000 students between 2014 and 2019 to measure how many had used physical violence in the past year. They also looked more closely at about 44,000 students from 2018–2019 to check links with things like vaping, illegal drug use, and self-harm. The share of students reporting they had used physical violence rose steadily across men, women, and transgender or gender nonconforming students from 2014 to 2019. The results show these problems often happen together and that colleges may need to include substance-use and mental-health work when planning violence prevention, but the study does not prove one thing causes the other.

Key facts:

• The study used surveys from about 181,000 college students collected from 2014 to 2019 to measure 12-month rates of physical violence perpetration.
• From 2014 to 2019 the proportion of students who said they had used physical violence in the past year increased steadily for male, female, and transgender or gender nonconforming students.
• The researchers examined about 44,000 students from the 2018–2019 survey year to study links between violence, substance use, and mental health symptoms.
• Students who reported substance use were more likely to also report having committed physical violence in the past 12 months, according to the 2018–2019 data.
• Specific behaviors that were linked with higher odds of violence included vaping or e-cigarette use, using illicit drugs, and nonsuicidal self-injury (hurting oneself without trying to die).
• The study shows these issues occur together and calls for more research and prevention on college campuses; it does not show that substance use or mental-health symptoms cause someone to be violent.

Abstract

The aims of this study were to, first, report the prevalence of physical violence perpetration among a sample of college students and, second, to identify associations between physical violence perpetration, substance use, and mental health symptoms. We analyzed survey data from the Healthy Minds Study. We examined the 12-month prevalence of physical violence perpetration by gender identity from 2014-2019 (n = 181,056). We used multivariable logistic regression analyses to estimate associations between physical violence perpetration, substance use, and mental health symptoms from the 2018-2019 survey year (n = 43,563). Results revealed that 12-month prevalence rates of physical violence perpetration increased from 2014-2019 among male, female, and transgender/gender nonconforming college students. Results from multivariable logistic regression analyses using the 2018-2019 survey year revealed higher odds of physical violence perpetration in the previous 12 months among students who reported substance use and mental health symptoms, including vaping or e-cigarette use, illicit drug use, and nonsuicidal self-injury, among others. Our findings highlight steadily rising prevalence of physical violence perpetration from 2014-2019 among college students, indicating a growing need for more research and prevention efforts to address this problem in higher education settings. Efforts to prevent violence on college campuses should consider how to reduce substance use and improve mental health to reduce this form of violence.

Topics

Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression Gun Ownership and Violence Research Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies

Categories

Health Social Sciences

Tags

Clinical psychology Domestic violence Human factors and ergonomics Injury prevention Medical emergency Medicine Mental health Occupational safety and health Pathology Poison control Psychiatry Psychology Substance abuse Substance use Suicide prevention