Prevalence of Drug Abuse Amongst University Students in Benin City, Nigeria

摘要

Drug Abuse is becoming an increasing problem in Nigeria. This study sought to determine the prevalence of drug abuse among students in a tertiary institution in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The sample size for this study was 800 students (n=800). Structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Three research questions and one hypothesis was answered. Descriptive statistics and Pearson product moment correlation were used for data analysis using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Results showed that majority of the respondents were young people within the age group of 20-25 years and a higher proportion of respondents were male students. This study reveals that 46.6% of the sample respondents have taken drugs for non-medical purposes at least once. Coffee and alcohol were the most commonly abused drugs. Majority of the respondents agreed that students take drugs as a result of poor teacher-student relationship, improper parental upbringing, as well as the influence of peer pressure. Results also revealed that the null hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between university environment and drug abuse among UNIBEN students is rejected while the alternate hypothesis is upheld. It is therefore recommended that Public health intervention aimed at preventing drug use among students should be designed to raise awareness about the negative effects of drug abuse.