Title : Rate and sociodemographic predictors of psychoactive substance use among secondary school students in a rural community in Nigeria
Abstract:
Use of Psychoactive substances by adolescents and young people poses a significant public health threat despite mass campaigns and education. Adolescence being a period of transition from childhood to adulthood is a potential target for health education aimed at initiating and maintaining positive habits. The study determined the rate and sociodemographic predictors associated with psychoactive substance use among secondary school students in a rural community in Anambra state, Nigeria as part of school health education.
Learning objectives: The audience is expected to know the pattern of use of psychoactive substances among secondary school adolescents in a rural community in Nigeria. The sociodemographic predictors associated with the use of different psychoactive substances were also determined.
Method: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study in which multi staged sampling was used to select 494 students from selected secondary schools in Anambra state. A pretested questionnaire was used to obtain data on sociodemographic profile, alcohol, tobacco use, intravenous drug use. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics software version 20.0. Level of significance for tests of association was set at 5%. Logistic regression was done to determine independent factors.
Results: A total of 494 students were studied of which 48.8% (n = 241) were males. The mean age was 14.5 ± 1.8 years. The ratio of males to females and boarding to day students was 1.1:1 respectively. The prevalence of lifetime use of psychoactive substances was 21.9% (n = 108), 1.8% (n = 9) and 0.8% (n= 4) respectively for alcohol, tobacco and illicit intravenous drugs. Only 9 out of the 494 students (1.8%) smoked tobacco. Neither age, gender, student status nor social class of students was significantly associated with smoking (p = 0.61, p =0.23, p = 0.32, p = 0.83) respectively. There was significant association between male gender (67.6% vs. 32.4%), lower socioeconomic class, student status (day students) and alcohol consumption (p < 0.001) respectively. No association was found between class of participants, age of participants and alcohol consumption. No association was also found between age of participants, gender, social class, student status and intravenous drug use (p = 0.82, p = 0.29, p = 0.34, 0.13) respectively. Independent sociodemographic predictors for alcohol use after logistic regression were lower socioeconomic class (p = 0.02,{ OR=1.84, CI=1.11-3.05}) and male gender (p <0.001, {OR =2.37, CI =1.49-3.75}).
