TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 KNOWLEDGE ON PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES AMONG THE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
2.2 GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE
2.3 PRACTICE/USE OF PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES AMONG THE YOUTHS
2.4 EFFECTS OF DRUG ABUSE ON THE SOCIETY
2.5 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN
3.3 STUDY POPULATION
3.4 SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
3.5 DATA FOR THE STUDY: INSTRUMENTATION
3.5.1 INSTRUMENTATION
3.5.2 VALIDITY OF INSTRUMENT
3.6 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 DATA ANALYSIS (QUESTIONNAIRE)
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
5.2 CONCLUSION
5.3 RECOMMENDATION
REFERENCES
QUESTIONNAIRE
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Adolescence is the time of change for teenagers and their families, a transition from childhood to adulthood. During this transition period dramatic physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and psychosexual changes take place that are exciting and at the same time frightening (Hockenberry, and Wilson, 2011).
The term substance is used in reference to any drug, medication, or toxin. Substance use becomes substance abuse when a person continues to use drugs or other substances even when it leads to serious personal consequences like family problems, losing friends, getting expelled from school, losing a job, or getting into legal trouble.
Some people continue to use drugs because they want to. Others become psychologically or physically dependent on them (Children’s Behavioral and Emotional Disorders, 2010). Commonly used substances for abuse are alcohol, opioids, cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines and other sympathomimetics, hallucinogens, sedatives and hypnotics, nicotine, other stimulant like caffeine (Sreevani, 2005).
The main causes for substance abuse are family history of substance use disorder, sense of inferiority, low self-esteem, pleasure seeking, and desire to experiment, poor stress management skills, peer pressure, unemployment, overcrowding, and poor social support (Sreevani, 2005).
The understanding of the terms substance abuser(s) and user(s) has no much difference in their meaning. Both substance user(s) and abuser(s) take illegal or unprescribed drug(s), or they inappropriately use other drug(s) or alcohol resulting in addiction.
The major difference is that the abusers take an excessive use of the illegal substance(s) (Jackson, 2005).
Drug abuse and drug dependence are of the major concerns of today’s world. Since these items have negative effects on development of communities, they are considered as worrying social topics. Addiction to natural and synthetic agents has increased in the recent decade. As a result, it has become a serious problem in social and psychological health issues. According to the report of the World Health Organization, there were 200 million of drug addicts through the world in 2005. In addition, it was reported that the highest addiction rate occurred in Iran and the highest prevalence of abuse was observed in the age group of 20-35 (Abasi A, Taziki S, Moradi, 2006).
Being aware of the age of onset for substance abuse is of great importance, since it helps policymakers in the health sector to focus on this specific age group to increase the effect of interventions. The age of the onset in most cases is adolescence. Different studies have shown that substance abuse mostly initiates with smoking and alcohol consuming in adolescence (Fadinasab, Bashirian, and Mahjoub, 2008)
Few studies have been carried out on prevalence of smoking, and alcohol and substance abuse among Iranian adolescents. In a study, it was reported that 6.9% of high school students in Tehran had the experience of drug abuse, and 16.9% experienced cigarette smoking. The most frequent drugs that were abused were alcohol, opium, and marijuana (Fadinasab, et al., 2008).
In another study in Shiraz, 30.2% of high school students had experienced smoking, alcohol drinking, or addictive or stimulant drugs at least once, and 13.8% of them took one of these substances regularly (Ahadi, and Hasani, 2003).
In general, drug abuse is the result of interaction among the individual, the substance, and the environment. Knowledge and attitude of the individual toward the drug and the drug effect is effective in its abuse. Another important factor in this respect is availability and nature of the substance.
Adolescence is a period in life characterized by significant changes. Biological, psychological changes and social learning changes occur at an astonishing rate (Reininger, Evans, Griffins, Valois, Vincent, Parra-Meding, Taylor, & Zullig, 2003). The teen years are times of exploring new ideas, fast learning and for risk taking (Jayousi, 2003). Adolescents exhibit an excessive drive in their pursuit of new and novel sensation and stimulation. This is because adolescence is a period of curiosity, experiencing, and seeking for personal identity (Reininger et al., 2003). Transition from childhood to adolescence is a delicate period and in many cases the initiating of drug abuse occurs during this period (Tehran, 2009). It is also the time when teenagers are particularly impressionable and vulnerable to many environmental factors that positively or negatively influence their future health behaviours (Tehran, 2009). At the same time, teenagers tend to develop an increased sense of concern with their own appearances and abilities –described as adolescent “egocentrism”; these two conditions make teenagers especially more vulnerable to the influence of peer groups (Jayousi, 2003). Thus, teenagers have an increased vulnerability to substance abuse because research shows that peers play an important role in initiating others into drugs, providing drugs and also shaping their attitudes towards drug use and abuse. Therefore this study focuses on the Knowledge level and attitude of school going adolescents towards drug use and abuse.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Poverty in many instances triggers teenagers to engage in abusive activities at schools and in communities for self-satisfaction (Jackson, 2005). Unemployment exacerbated by high levels of rural urban migration has multiplied the number of teenagers abusing drugs among other factors (Schonfeldt, 2007). Teenagers’ attitudes are also affected by substance abuse due to homelessness, lack of security and decent shelter, and lack of parental or adult care and guidance (NIDA, 2012).
Some environmental factors that contribute to drug abuse are cultural factors, peer attitude toward drug abuse, parents’ behavior, and regulations and policies, which restrict access to the drugs. One of the worst points in drug abuse is that adolescents and youth are more susceptible to it. This is because adolescence is a period of curiosity, experiencing, and seeking for personal identity (Schonfeldt, 2007). Transition from childhood to adolescence is a delicate period and in many cases the initiating of drug abuse occurs in this period. The adolescents may abuse substances due to various reasons. Some reasons to mention are lack of adequate knowledge about the harmful effects of the substances, incorrect attitude toward drugs and addiction, presentingpersonal independence, peer pressure, satisfying the curiosity, low levels of self-confidence, inability in maintaining inter-personal communications, and reducing stress (Jackson, 2005). In general, a combination of personal and familial factors, and the conditions of school and the society play an important role in substance abuse in adolescents. Presence of a substance abuser in the family, the ways the family controls the adolescent, inter-personal communications in the family, level of emotional dependence between parents and children, and the expectations of parents from their children are factors effective on substance abuse by adolescents (Jackson, 2005). These problems make it glaring that there is a need to carry out a study on the Knowledge level and attitude of school going adolescents towards drug use and abuse.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The general objective of this study is to examine the Knowledge level and attitude of school going adolescents towards drug use and abuse, a case study of Agege LGA of Lagos state. The specific objectives include the following:
1. To ascertain the prevalence of drug abuse among adolescents of Agege LGA of Lagos state.
2. To find out the level of knowledge of drug use and abuse among adolescents of Agege LGA of Lagos state.
3. To investigate how adolescents of Agege LGA of Lagos state acquire their knowledge of drug use and abuse.
4. To examine the attitude of school going adolescents Agege LGA of Lagos state towards drug use and abuse.
5.