LEVEL OF DRUG ABUSE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN EGOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, EDO STATE, NIGERIA
Keywords:
Academic performance, Drug abuse, Secondary school students, Level of drug abuseAbstract
This study examined the level of drug abuse and its relationship with the academic performance of secondary school students in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional correlational survey design was adopted, involving 175 Senior Secondary Two (SS2) students drawn from five public secondary schools through a two-stage sampling procedure. Two instruments were used for data collection: the Drug Abuse and Academic Performance Questionnaire (DAAPQ), adapted from the World Health Organization's Student Drug Use Questionnaire, and the Students' Academic Performance Record (SAPR), which captured scores in Mathematics and English Language. The adapted instrument was subjected to a pilot reliability test, yielding a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.952. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the first research question, while Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test the hypothesis at the .05 level of significance. Findings revealed a mean drug abuse score of 43.56 (SD = 14.41), which fell below the theoretical norm value of 50.00, indicating a comparatively low level of drug abuse among the sampled students. The correlation analysis produced an r-value of -0.140 (p = 0.065), which was not statistically significant, leading to the retention of the null hypothesis: drug abuse was not significantly related to academic performance among the students studied, a finding that departs from several prior Nigerian studies. Implications for counselling practice, school-based prevention and further research are discussed, and recommendations are proffered for sustaining the observed low level of drug abuse.References
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