Causes and Consequences of Drug Abuse among Youth in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

Drug abuse is one of the health-related problems among Nigerian youth and has been a source of concern to educational stakeholders. Its social implications to undergraduate students cannot be quantified. In light of this, this study examined causes and consequences of drug abuse among undergraduates at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study and a simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents for the study. The instrument used was a researcher-designed questionnaire on the causes and consequences of drug abuse among undergraduates. The instrument was validated by lecturers in the Department of Social Sciences Education and it possessed a coefficient of 0.72 using a test re-test method. All of the undergraduate students of the University of Ilorin formed the population of the study. The demographic data of the respondents and drug abuse variable were described and analyzed using percentages. Means were used to analyze the research question, while t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to test the null hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that the major cause of drug abuse among undergraduates at the University of Ilorin was the need to cope with academic challenges. Findings also revealed that the main consequences of drug abuse among undergraduates of the University of Ilorin was low self-esteem. It was further revealed that there were no significant differences in the causes and consequences of drug abuse among undergraduates of the University of Ilorin based on gender and their faculty. It was, however, recommended among others that the government should enact measures on people that are selling drugs indiscriminately and should be supervising the target area, and if possible, check the activities of the victims of drug abuse. The Ministry of Education in conjunction with the National Campaign against Drug Abuse (NACADA) should engage in appropriate interagency agreements in order to streamline the provision of services to support students with social and behavioral problems emanating from drug abuse.

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