{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T13:41:26Z","timestamp":1787319686028,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,30]],"date-time":"2023-03-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1680134400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study examined the association between social characteristics, substance use, and psychological distress in a national representative sample of adults in Serbia. It was a secondary analysis of the National Survey on Lifestyles in Serbia: Substance Abuse and Gambling 2018. The study included a total of 2000 participants aged 18 to 65 from the general population in Serbia. Psychological distress was examined using the Kessler 6 questionnaire. There were a total of 945 male participants (47.3%) and 1055 (52.8%) female participants. The average age was 37.83 \u00b1 13.61 years. The prevalence of a high risk of psychological distress was 5.2% (103\/2000), while the prevalence of moderate risk of psychological distress was 15.2% (303\/2000). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that being male, having poor self-rated health, having poor subjective financial status, binge drinking in the past year, and lifetime use of any illicit drug were associated with a higher likelihood of having a high risk of psychological distress. One in six adults in Serbia has a high risk of psychological distress, while one in twenty has a moderate risk. The findings of this study urge targeted actions to protect and improve the health of people in psychological distress and drug and alcohol users.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph20075321","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,30]],"date-time":"2023-03-30T03:17:35Z","timestamp":1680146255000},"page":"5321","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Psychological Distress in the Republic of Serbia, the Association of Social Characteristics and Substance Use on a National Representative Sample of Serbia"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-4759-2897","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Milica","family":"Tadic","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinic of Neurosurgery, Gamma Knife, University Clinical Centre of Serbia, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9878-8021","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zorica","family":"Terzic-Supic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Social Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9741-6317","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jovana","family":"Todorovic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Social Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Biljana","family":"Kilibarda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Public Health of Serbia \u201cDr Milan Jovanovic Batut\u201d, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0684-359X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Milena","family":"Santric-Milicevic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Social Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3564-2623","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marija","family":"Dusanovic-Pjevic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Human Genetics, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Srboljub","family":"Milicevic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Clinical Centre of Serbia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"687","DOI":"10.1111\/scs.12289","article-title":"Understanding Persons with Psychological Distress in Primary Health Care","volume":"30","author":"Arvidsdotter","year":"2016","journal-title":"Scand. 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