PSYCHO-SOCIAL FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR DRUG ABUSE AMONG UNDERGRADUATES IN AMBROSE ALLI UNIVERSITY, EKPOMA, EDO STATE

Abstract

Abstract The study examined the psycho-social factors responsible for drug abuse among undergraduates in Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma Edo State. Three psycho-social factors namely:peer pressure, environment and emotional stability were covered. Three research questions were thereby analysed in the study. The study adopted the descriptive study design. The population of this covered all the 27,388 regular undergraduate students in Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma. A sample size of 546 students was selected for the study. The proportional random sampling technique was used to select 2% of the total number of students across each of the faculties in the institution. The instrument that was used for the collection of data is a questionnaire developed by the researcher. The instrument was titled: Drug Abuse Causes Survey Questionnaire (DACSUQ). The test-retest reliability method was used to determine the reliability of the instrument. The reliability coefficient produced an r-value of 0.74 for peer pressure, 0.78 for environment and .72 for emotional instability. These values (r ≥ 0.70) showed that the instrument is reliable as satisfactory for use in the main administration. Research questions 1, 2 and 3 was analysed using mean (X ̅) and standard deviation (S.D). The research questions were analysed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) (IBM Version 20).The result showed that peer pressure, environment and emotional stability are the factors responsible for drug abuse among undergraduates in Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma Edo State. It was recommended that the ministry of education (federal and state) should add to their curricular “Drug education” for both the primary, secondary and tertiary schools in Nigeria. They should always organize lectures, seminars, relies, film show etc for the Nigerian youths on the effect of drug abuse.