Substance use among adolescents in secondary schools in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria
[1]
Imaobong D. Akpan, Department of Educational Foundations, Guidance and Counselling, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria.
[2]
Comfort I. Usoroh, Department of Human Ecology, Nutrition & Dietetics, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria.
The study investigated the use of psychoactive substances among adolescents in Secondary Schools in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Five research questions guided the study. The population for the study comprised of 2,600 Senior Secondary III students from 13 public secondary schools in the study area. Two hundred and sixty respondents were drawn from the population using 10% of the population, multi-stage and stratified proportionate random sampling techniques. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire developed by the researchers’ tagged Drug Use among Adolescents in Secondary Schools in Uyo Local Government Area Questionnaire (DUASSULGAQ). The instrument had three sections A to C and 20 items. The validity of the instrument was carried out by three experts and the reliability coefficient of 0.89 was ascertained using Cronbach’s alpha. Data collected were analysed using frequency and percentages while the results were presented on pie charts. Findings revealed that 83.8% of the respondents use psychoactive substances while 16.2% do not; 58.7% of the substance users are males while 41.3% are females; the result also showed that the type of substances commonly used by the respondents amongst others was alcohol; various reasons for adolescent substance use were identified and desire for acceptance by friends/peers had the highest value of 72.7%. Based on the findings, it was concluded that adolescents in Secondary Schools in Uyo Local Government Area use psychoactive substances of various types for various reasons. The researchers therefore recommend, among others, education on psychoactive substances, provision of guidance and counselling services to adolescents in secondary schools in the study area to reduce the prevalence of substance abuse.
Psychoactive Substances, Substance Abuse, Adolescence, Adolescent Substance use, Recreational Drugs
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