ABSTRACT
Drug abuse, equally
known as substance abuse, is the use of a substance usually for non-medical
purposes which pose physical, emotional, social and mental threats to the
users. Drug abuse penetrates across every phases of humanity, but more
pervasive among adolescents and middle-aged youths. The study examines the
effects of drug abuse on senior secondary school attitudes towards learning in
Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State. The study adopted the two-stage
sampling technique in which 120 respondents were randomly selected from four
secondary schools in the study area. A well-constructed questionnaire was
developed to generate data for the study via its administration to the
respondents. The data were analyzed using the descriptive statistic analysis
and the Pearson product moment of correlation was employed to test the
hypothesis. Findings from the study reveal that alcohol is the commonest drug
abused by the students; the perceived reasons for students’ engagement in drug
abuse amongst others include to reduce
fear and tension, to build-up self esteem, confidence and boldness, peer
influence, ability to face crowd and experimentation and curiosity.
Furthermore, a significant relationship was found to exist between drug abuse
and students’ attitude towards learning (r=-0.347; p<0.05). To this end, the
study suggested that schools should sensitize their students to that they will
know that hard work secures success in life and they should be serious with
their studies, in order to be useful to
themselves, their families and the country at large.
1.1
INTRODUCTION
The
occurrence of drug abuse has become endemic in the Nigerian society to the
extent that secondary school students, who are mere adolescents, engaged
themselves in drug abuse as a result of peer pressure or the parental
influence, which some of their parents are drug-addict or former drug-addict.
Drug abuse makes a student to become obstinate towards their parents and
elderly ones, they also become unruly and unproductive to themselves and their
family, as thereby constituting nuisance to the society.
The
reality of drug abuse is as old as man. Drug abuse is in various forms spanning
from the taking of hard drug to alcohol. Though, drug are very important to
human health, as they prevents and cures diseases and other ailments in the
body, but the excessive intake of these drugs have resulted into complex
problems to as many people who are drug abusers. The effect of drug abuse is
state and country differentials. In Nigeria, the establishment of many
breweries and pharmaceutical companies has contributed to the high rate of drug
abuse due to increasing their turn-out of these products. There are classifications of drugs for
different reasons; there are medical drugs for preventing and curing of
diseases or pains. The social drugs are used for social and religious reasons
while no-medical drugs are neither for medical nor socio-cultural reasons.
Drugs
can be majorly be classified into narcotics, cannabis, hallucinogens,
barbiturates, sedatives, heroine and over the country drugs (Chebukaka,
2014). From the stated classification,
many people over the world engage themselves in the act of swallowing, smoking
and chewing, which resulted into the pervasiveness of drug abuse in the global
scene. Huge sum of money realized from the sales of drug has also contributed
to the high rate of drug abuse, as a result, individuals involved in drug
business becomes wealthy within a short period of time. This gives people the
impetus to join the bad group by carrying drug.
A
great deal of drugs are abused for self-treatment of physical ailment could
result in ignorance for they do not know that all drugs are harmful, which can
sometimes harm the mental health of the abusers or cause him or her life. Dearth
of doctors and pharmacists and the unregulated manners in which drugs are sold
to the public in the market greatly contributes to drug abuse among students.
Children also abuse drugs through imitation of older people in their environs.
If drugs are sold at home, there is great tendency for them to abusing
them. According to Nahid, etal (2012),
the problems of drug abuse lies with individual family. Unless parents
themselves become morally upright and responsible, the issue of drug abuse will
be resolved, become family have the power to influence adolescents either
positively or negatively, as they are in the formative period of their life.
1.2
STATEMENT
OF PROBLEM
Drug
abuse is detrimental to the mental, social, emotional, psychological,
intellectual and academic stability of a student. A student engaged in abuse
will definitely develop negative attitude towards learning which translates to
poor academic performance. No wonder the woeful performance of Nigerian
secondary school students in external examinations such as WAEC, NECO and
GCE. Findings from available literature
showed that students, despite at their period of adolescence, still abuse drug
(Nahid, etal 2012). It is however not lucid the kind of drug they abuse and the
reasons for their engagement in drug abuse. Nevertheless, there is no moral,
social or religious justification for drug abuse, as it remains a bane in the
society.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
main objective of the study is to examine the effect of drug abuse on secondary
school students’ attitude towards learning.
Other
objectives of the study are:
1. To
find out the commonly drug(s) that are abused by senior secondary school
students in Ikenne LGA.
2. To
find out the reasons why senior secondary school students indulge in drug abuse
in Ikenne LGA.
1.4
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The
study attempts to provide meaningful answers to the following research questions:
1. What
are the commonly drug(s) that are abused by senior secondary school students in
Ikenne LGA?
2. What
are the reasons for senior secondary school students’ indulgent in drug abuse
in Ikenne LGA?
3. What
are the effects of drug abuse on the learning attitude of senior secondary
school students in Ikenne LGA?
1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
The
hypothesis formulated to guide the study is stated as follows:
H0:
Drug abuse has no significant effect
on senior secondary school students’ attitude towards learning in Ikenne LGA.
H1:
Drug abuse has no significant effect on
senior secondary school students’ attitude towards learning in Ikenne LGA.
1.6
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The
findings may help the Ministry of Education and school administrators in the
development of strategies for students’ behavior management in schools.
Students may be helped by the findings of the study by being made aware of
effects of drug use on their attitude towards learning and hence be more
cautious and instead concentrate on studies.
The
study findings might help curriculum developers in formulating and
incorporating psycho-education programs in secondary schools. The findings may
also be useful to schools management to come up with drug policies and put in
place suggested counseling interventions.
1.7 SCOPE AND
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The
study examined the effects of drug abuse on the learning attitudes of senior
secondary school students by placing strong emphasis on private and public
senior secondary school students in Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The
limitations encountered during the study are:
1. Time constraint:
The time given to conduct a study of this magnitude is relatively short, given
other academic engagements of the researcher.
2. Financial constraint:
As a result of limited funds, the study covered only private and public
secondary school students in Ikenne LGA.
3. Unwillingness of the Respondents: Based
on the nature of the study, the respondents were unwillingly to partake in the
survey because of fear of being exposed or victimized.
Despite
the limitations stated above, a quality and robust research study was carried
out.
1.8
ASSUMPTIONS
The
study was premised on the following assumptions:
1.
Drug abuse is generally known to have adverse effects on students’ attitude
towards learning.
2.
Students, which are equally the respondents, provided true and genuine answers
to the items in the questionnaire.
1.9
METHODOLOGY
The
study employed descriptive survey research design in order to help the
researcher identify the characteristics of the study area and ex-post facto
research design simply because the researcher has no control over the
independent variable, which is drug abuse. In furtherance, the purposive
sampling technique was adopted to select four (4) senior secondary schools in
the study area (two-private; two public).
In addition to these, thirty (30) students (15-male; 15 female) were
randomly picked in each of the selected school to give a sample size of
one-hundred and twenty (120) students. A well-developed questionnaire was
administered to the respondents and the data obtained were analyzed using the
descriptive statistic analysis and the chi-squared analysis was adopted to test
the hypothesis at 5% significance level.
1.10
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
Drug: A
substance, not necessarily for medical purposes, which alters the way the
mind
or body works.
Drug Abuse:
It is the use of illegal drugs, or the misuse of prescription or
over-the-counter drugs with negative effects.
Drug Abuser:
A person who uses illegal drugs or misuse of drugs.
Attitude:
disposition or state of mind.
Student: A
person who is seriously devoted to some subject, whether academic or not.
Learning:
An act in accumulating knowledge.
Adolescent:
A teenager or a juvenile after puberty.
Maladaptive:
a behavior of showing in inadequate or faulty adaptation to new situation.