Psychosocial correlates of substance use amongst secondary school students in South Western Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: To determine the psychosocial correlates of substance use among secondary school students in rural and urban communities in south western Nigeria. Design: A cross-sectional survey of secondary school students using questionnaire eliciting substance use by students (WHO drug use questionnaire) and a well designed questionnaire on psychosocial variables. Setting: Six secondary schools selected from two local government areas in Ilesa, Osun State, South Western Nigeria. Subjects: The study population comprised 600 randomly selected senior secondary school students from six schools. Results: A total of 562 questionnaires were analysed. Current stimulant use was significantly associated with lower socio-economic status, coming from a polygamous family and self-rated poor academic performance. Current alcohol use was associated with being a male, polygamous family background, living alone or with friends, not being religious and self-rated poor academic performance. Current hypnosedatives use was commoner in students living alone or with friends and hi those with self-rated poor academic performance. There was also significant positive relationship between current tobacco use and the male sex, not being religious and self-rated poor academic perfomance. Lifetime use of these substances had similar association with the psychosocial variables with slight differences. Conclusion: The similarity between the psychosocial correlates highlighted in this study and those reported in previous studies from other parts of Nigeria makes these observations useful enough for the planning of preventive strategies.