Stigma-Related Attitudes Toward People with Substance Use Problems Among University Students: Associations with Academic Field, Compassion, and Personal Experience

Stigma toward people with substance use problems is characterized by negative beliefs and attitudes that may devalue and dehumanize individuals experiencing addiction, potentially overlooking the complexity of substance use disorders and creating barriers to treatment. The present study aimed to examine stigma-related attitudes toward people with substance use problems among university students and identify sociodemographic, educational, experiential, and psychological factors associated with these attitudes. A total of 101 university students from different academic disciplines completed an online questionnaire including sociodemographic information, an adapted Attribution Questionnaire-27 (AQ-27), the CRAFFT instrument to characterize participants’ own substance use, and the Compassion of Others’ Lives Scale (COOL). Age, gender, and participants’ own substance use were not significantly associated with stigma-related attitudes. In contrast, Health Sciences students showed lower Irritability, Dangerousness, and Fear than students in Arts and Humanities. Compassion was positively associated with Help and negatively associated with Avoidance. Exposure to substance use problems in the close environment was associated with lower Dangerousness and Segregation. These findings highlight the multidimensional nature of stigma-related attitudes and suggest the potential benefit of incorporating strategies into awareness-raising campaigns aimed at increasing the visibility of substance use problems and promoting compassionate, non-judgmental approaches to addiction.