Tobacco and alcohol use, sexual behavior and common mental disorders among military students at the Police Academy, São Paulo, Brazil. A cross-sectional study

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: The lifestyle of military personnel has been little studied in Brazil. This study evaluated the frequencies of tobacco and alcohol use, sexual behavior and mental health among military students.DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study at the Police Academy, in São Paulo.METHODS: Students answered a questionnaire about tobacco use, alcohol consumption, sexual behavior and common mental disorders (CMDs). To analyze associations among the frequencies of smoking and alcohol use, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and CMDs during the undergraduate years, we built a multinomial logistic regression model adjusted for age and sex.RESULTS: All 473 students were invited to participate and 430 (90.9%) agreed (10.5% were women). Most were white (76.6%), aged