Knowledge, attitude, and practice of substance abuse among adolescent in south-west Nigeria

Aim: Gaining understanding of the knowledge, perception, and practice of substance abuse among Adolescent in southwest Nigeria. Study Design: A non-experimental research design was used for the study, and a total of 133 respondents were selected from cross sectional administered questionnaire in selected secondary schools in Owo Metropolis, Ondo State, Nigeria. The study was carried out at Achievers University Owo, Southwestern Nigeria. Methodology: Questionnaire from the respondents was used, was simple comprising of logically and easily understandable questions relating to the topic and answering the research question. The questionnaire was made to measure what it is supposed to measure as accurately and consistently as possible. The statical results of the descriptive data were obtained using the Statical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20) and relevant descriptive and inferential statistical method was employed. Results: The results revealed a total of 133 students from four different schools in Ile-East Local Government area in Ondo State, Nigeria. The demographic data showed that there were more males among these schools representing 60.2% of the entire sample size. Majority of the sample size also showed between 15 and 16 years old representing 47.4% and 21.8% respectively. 91.7% of them had received information about substance abuse, most of them from their peers (49.6%) and school (27.8%). 78.2% of the respondents indicated, that they had never used psychoactive substance before, majority gave several reasons such as it is a bad for their health which took most reason (38.3%), other reasons include fear of the repercussions (11.3%), and other gave no reason (17.35). Minority of them admitted having used psychoactive substances at a time (21.8%) and 125 of this minority agree that they used it occasionally, when it is available and at parties. 34.6% of the respondents had a family members that abuses drugs or other psychoactive substances, most of them were relatives (15.8%) and their fathers (12.8%), which shows influence family members and relatives have on substance abuse. Conclusion: The adolescents were analyzed to have fair knowledge of substance abuse, its effect as well as a fair attitude towards it.