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:
- To find out the commonly drug(s) that are abused by senior secondary school students in Ikenne LGA.
- 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:
- What are the commonly drug(s) that are abused by senior secondary school students in Ikenne LGA?
- What are the reasons for senior secondary school students’ indulgent in drug abuse in Ikenne LGA?
- 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:
- Time constraint: The time given to conduct a study of this magnitude is relatively short, given other academic engagements of the researcher.
- Financial constraint: As a result of limited funds, the study covered only private and public secondary school students in Ikenne LGA.
- 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.
