EXTENT OF DRUG ABUSE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN EZZA NORTH LGA., EBONYI STATE

EXTENT OF DRUG ABUSE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN EZZA NORTH LGA., EBONYI STATE

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted to determine the extent of drug abuse among secondary school students in Ezza North LGA, Ebonyi State. Six specific objectives with six corresponding research questions and three null-hypotheses were postulated to guide the study. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The sample consisted of 674 secondary school students. Random sampling techniques of balloting without replacement, disproportionate sampling techniques and systematic sampling techniques were used to draw the sample for the study. A two-section researcher’s designed questionnaire which was titled (EDASQ) was the instrument used for data collection. The instrument was validated by five experts from the Department of Health and Physical Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.  Means were used to answer the research questions while t-Test statistic was used in testing null hypothesis one and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistic was used in test null hypotheses two and three at .05 level of significance and appropriate degree of freedom. The result of the study showed that: The secondary school students are abusing depressants drugs in a very low extent as their cluster mean is (1.66); the students are abusing stimulants drugs in a very low extent as their cluster mean score is (1.81); Students do not abuse hallucinogen drugs at all as their cluster mean score is (1.27). The independent variables (gender and age) considered, had no significant influence at .05 level of significance, on the extent of drug abuse among secondary school students while class of study had a significant difference at .05 level of significance on the extent of drug abuse among the students.