Abstract:

Substance abuse can be described as any chemical abuse, implying the use of one or more substances in a manner that its user excessively and progressively consumes the substance in large quantities or in a manner detrimental to themselves or to those around them. The study examined the prevalence of substance abuse among secondary school adolescents in Owerri Municipal Council of Imo State. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. Two research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study comprised all 4,435 Senior Secondary School II students in the ten public secondary schools in Owerri Municipal Council of Imo State. A sample of 420 students was drawn for the study using the simple random sampling technique (balloting) and proportionate sampling technique. A self-structured questionnaire titled “prevalence of substance abuse among adolescents in secondary schools” (POSAASS) and interview question on students’ substance abuse for teachers, principals and counsellors were used to obtain data. The questionnaire was designed on a four-point Likert scale. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was ensured. The test-retest method and Cronbach alpha method was used to establish the internal consistency and a reliability coefficient of 0.85 was obtained. Responses to the research questions were answered with mean and standard deviation, while the hypothesis was tested with independent t-test statistics. The findings of the study revealed that there is a high prevalence of substance abuse among the adolescents in secondary schools in Owerri Municipal council of Imo state, with alcohol rating as the most used and abused substance (100%) and stimulants the least used and abused substances (20.71%). Other substances that are used and abused among adolescents’ in secondary schools in Owerri Municipal council of Imo state include cigarettes (89.76%), and menthol sweet melted in carbonated drinks (98.1). Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that there should be constant regulation and monitoring by parents of the kind of company their children keep, counselling and health education of the adolescents in schools by the school health nurse and counsellors.