Background Drug abuse is detrimental, and excessive drug usage is a worldwide problem. Drug usage typically begins during adolescence. Factors for drug abuse include a variety of protective and risk factors. Hence, this systematic review aimed to determine the risk and protective factors of drug abuse among adolescents worldwide. Methods Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was adopted for the review which utilized three main journal databases, namely PubMed, EBSCOhost, and Web of Science. Tobacco addiction and alcohol abuse were excluded in this review. Retrieved citations were screened, and the data were extracted based on strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. Inclusion criteria include the article being full text, published from the year 2016 until 2020 and provided via open access resource or subscribed to by the institution. Quality assessment was done using Mixed Methods Appraisal Tools (MMAT) version 2018 to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. Given the heterogeneity of the included studies, a descriptive synthesis of the included studies was undertaken. Results Out of 425 articles identified, 22 quantitative articles and one qualitative article were included in the final review. Both the risk and protective factors obtained were categorized into three main domains: individual, family, and community factors. The individual risk factors identified were traits of high impulsivity; rebelliousness; emotional regulation impairment, low religious, pain catastrophic, homework completeness, total screen time and alexithymia; the experience of maltreatment or a negative upbringing; having psychiatric disorders such as conduct problems and major depressive disorder; previous e-cigarette exposure; behavioral addiction; low-perceived risk; high-perceived drug accessibility; and high-attitude to use synthetic drugs. The familial risk factors were prenatal maternal smoking; poor maternal psychological control; low parental education; negligence; poor supervision; uncontrolled pocket money; and the presence of substance-using family members. One community risk factor reported was having peers who abuse drugs. The protective factors determined were individual traits of optimism; a high level of mindfulness; having social phobia; having strong beliefs against substance abuse; the desire to maintain one’s health; high paternal awareness of drug abuse; school connectedness; structured activity and having strong religious beliefs. Conclusion The outcomes of this review suggest a complex interaction between a multitude of factors influencing adolescent drug abuse. Therefore, successful adolescent drug abuse prevention programs will require extensive work at all levels of domains.

It has been noted that many drug addicts relapse to drug use after discharged from successful treatment and rehabilitation programs. Thus it is imperative and timely to address the issues that prompt relapsed addiction. 400 drug addicts on relapse cases were selected from eight drug rehabilitation centres throughout Peninsular Malaysia to examine factors influences the relapsed addiction to drug use. Consistent with previous research, self-efficacy, family support, community support and employers support were identified as main factors that influenced the relapsed addictions tendency amongst addicts. Suggestions to curb relapsed addiction to drugs were discussed in relation to the findings.

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between smartphone addiction, sleep quality, and academic performance. The study presented quantitative research on 323 students in a public university in Sabah to explore the relationship between smartphone addiction, sleep quality, and academic performance. A simple random sampling was used in the study. The Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version (SAS-SV) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used in this study. SPSS was used as a tool of analysis for descriptive and inferential analysis. Pearson correlation was involved to test the hypothesis of the study. The result indicated that the greater the smartphone addiction, the lower the academic performance of university students. The finding also proved that students with poor sleep quality might exhibit low academic performance. Smartphone addiction was found to be associated with sleep quality where overusing smartphones was related to poor sleep quality in university students. On this basis, the problem of smartphone addiction and sleep quality should be tackled in order to improve the academic performance of university students and their overall health.

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Organization has always placed emphasis on the publics who would determine its life span. In the context of higher education institution, graduates are the main public whereby their marketability is the key measurement of a university’s effort in the human resources development. Hon & Grunig (1999) identify two types of organizational relationship from public perspectives. The communal relationship is said to focus more on the surrounding and balance effect whilst exchange relationship is more inclined towards organizational self interest from the viewpoint of the public. From a different perspective on these two types of relationship, what exactly is the correlation between the student’s soft skills as claimed to be the determinant of their future employability after graduation? This problem has definitely tapped the interest of researchers to conduct an empirical study in order to examine the views of a university’s final-year undergraduates regarding the relationship of university-student and relate it to the seven dimensions of soft skills, namely communication skills, critical and problem solving skills, teamwork skills, continuous learning and information management skills, entrepreneurship skills, professional moral and ethics as well as leadership skills. Perceptions from 115 students were studied through face-to-face survey method. Communal relationship was proven relationally positive with communication skills, critical and problem solving skills, teamwork skills, continuous learning and information management skills, and entrepreneurship skills while exchange relationship was inversely related with professional moral and ethics