Substance use recovery among college students in the US: data from the Healthy Minds Study 2021–2024

Objectives This study explores the prevalence of substance use recovery among college students and the demographic, mental health, and substance use differences in students who do and do not identify as being in recovery.Participants Students in the Healthy Minds Study between 2021 and 2024 who took the substance use module (n = 24,279).Methods Descriptive and bivariate statistics to assess differences between groups of students.Results Across all years, an average of 8.91% of students identified as being in recovery from substance use (n = 2,146). A majority (56.4%) of college students self-identified as being in recovery reported past-month alcohol and/or substance use.Conclusions Though the demographics of students in recovery are similar from those not in recovery, they appear to use substances at similar rates. This has implications for college programming, with findings suggesting that many students in recovery may be using substances and benefit from non-abstinence-based resources.