SUBSTANCE ABUSE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN AN URBAN AND A RURAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Substance abuse refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances including alcohol, opioids, cannabinoids, hypnotics, cocaine, hallucinogens, tobacco, caffeine, nicotine. A psychoactive (psychotropic) substance is any substance which after absorption has influence on mental process, both cognitive and affective. Several studies have shown that young people are increasingly engaging in substance abuse to their detriment. AIM: This study was carried out to assess the pattern of substance abuse among secondary school students in an urban and a rural Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria. METHODOLOGY: It was a Comparative Descriptive Study. Multistage sampling was applied in selecting 212 students (108 from secondary schools in the urban LGA and 104 from secondary schools in the rural LGA.) an self administered questionnaire was used to interview the IJR - Group 13 Vol. 2 Issue 5 May 2016 Paper 2 International Journal for Medical Science respondents. Data was analysed using SPSS version 20. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Two hundred and twelve questionnaires were shared out and all were retrieved giving a response rate of 100.0%. Of all the respondents, 50.9% were from the urban L.G.A and 49.1% were from the rural L.G.A. Majority of students (67%) belong to the 14-17year age group. All the respondents (100%) reported that they knew what substance abuse meant. The commonest source of knowledge was their teachers (70.2% in the rural L.G.A.) and (42.6% in the urban L.G.A.). Forty three (39.8%) of the urban respondents have taken or sniffed any drug/substance while 36 (34.6%) of the rural respondents have taken or sniffed any substance however the difference was not statistically significant (X2=1.898, p=0.387). A higher proportion of the rural respondents (47.2%) abuse alcohol compared with the urban respondents (37.2%), also a higher proportion of the urban respondents (7.0%) abuse cigarette compared with the rural respondents (2.8%). This difference was statistically significant (X2 = 3.988, p = 0.040). Majority of both the urban (41.9%) and the rural (44.4%) respondents were introduced by their friends. This difference was not statistically significant (X2 = 0.257, p = 0.612). CONCLUSION: Substance abuse exists among secondary school students in both the urban and the rural areas in Anambra State of Nigeria, even though the students know what substance abuse meant, they still engage in the practice. Public health education on the substance abuse should be intensified among adolescents in both the urban and the rural area of Anambra state