Gender and Socio-economic Differences in Substance Use Among Academics in Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State of Nigeria

Abstract

The use of substance by university academics in recent times is a cause for concern especially due to the negative implications of its misuse. The social climate in the university is gradually changing in spite of its setting which is meant for educating and reforming individuals, as new forms of social organizations have evolved wherein academics get involved in indiscriminate substance use as a result. This research was undertaken to investigate the reasons why academics engaged in substance use and to find out the difference in its use, based on gender and socio-economic status of the respondents. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised 833 academic staff. A total of 113 academics who were randomly selected from six out of twelve faculties in the university participated in the study. Three Research questions and two research hypotheses were generated to guide the study. A researcher designed instrument named ‘University Academics’ Substance Use Questionnaire’ was used to generate data, and analyzed using mean scores, standard deviations and the t-test. Results indicated that a higher number of male than female academics engaged in substance use due to emotional and psychological reasons; and that alcohol, tobacco and caffeine were the most frequently used substances. The predisposing factors to substance use were amongst others, early parental and cultural initiation. The t-test also showed statistically significant differences in substance use based on gender and socio-economic status of the respondents. Based on the findings, recommendations were made.