RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DRUG ABUSE AND BEHAVIOURAL DEPRESSION AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL ADOLESCENT STUDENTS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between drug abuse and depression among secondary school adolescent students in Anambra State, Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlational survey research design. The population comprised 27,858 Senior Secondary Two (SS2) students drawn from 64 public secondary schools across the six education zones of Anambra State. A sample of 1,100 SS2 students was drawn using multi stage sampling procedure. Two instruments, the Adolescent Drug Abuse Questionnaire (ADAQ) and the Adolescents' Self-Report Depression Scale (ASRDS), were used for data collection. The instruments were validated by three experts in the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The instruments yielded reliability coefficients of 0.863 and 0.822 respectively, using Cronbach's Alpha. The data collected were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The findings of the study revealed that there was a weak positive and significant relationship between drug abuse and depression among the students generally, drug abuse also showed weak positive and significant relationships with behavioural depression among male and female students. Based on the findings, the study concluded that drug abuse is significantly associated with the behavioural dimension of depression among secondary school adolescents in Anambra State, irrespective of gender. It was recommended that school counsellors should organise regular guidance and counselling sessions to help students develop healthy coping mechanisms for stress and emotional difficulties, thereby reducing their tendency to resort to drug abuse.