Purpose: Nigeria is experiencing increased rate of drug use among young people. Studies have shown a very high rate of drug use and addiction among university undergraduates and this study was aimed at examining the experiences and meanings associated with drug abuse and addiction among university students while also identifying the causative factors of the use of psychoactive substances.
Methods:The study which is a mixed method made use of an adapted and validated version of the drug abuse screening test (DAST-10) scale to measure drug use and emotional intelligence questionnaire was used to measure an aspect of psychosocial functioning and interviews were used to explore the subjective experiences of six participants. Both the purposive and snowballing sampling techniques were employed. The quantitative data generated were coded and entered into the statistical package for social sciences and results were presented using descriptive tables.
Results:The results showed no significant relationship and a negative correlation between drug abuse and emotional intelligence (r = -0.229, p> 0.05). The qualitative data was transcribed and coded using thematic coding where themes are extracted from each transcript. The most commonly used substances were codeine (85%), alcohol (75%), cannabis (70%), tramadol (65%), rohypnol (65%), and tobacco (50%). Qualitative data shows that the participants exercised some sort of willpower over the use of psychoactive substances and the major reason for use was to seek a new experience.
Conclusion:This study brought to the fore the evidence that personal meanings and experiences come into play in taking decisions on drinking or substance use and this should be considered when interventions are planned.
Alcohol is the most widely used substance of abuse among youths in Nigeria. Underage drinking poses a serious public health problem in most colleges and despite the health and safety risk, consumption of alcohol is rising. Having recourse to the public health objective on alcohol by the World Health organization, which is to reduce the health burden caused by the harmful use of alcohol, thereby saving live and reducing injuries, this data article explored the nature of alcohol use among college students, binge drinking and the consequences of alcohol consumption. Secondary school students are in a transition developmentally and this comes with its debilitating effects such as risky alcohol use which affects their health and educational attainment
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. This data article consists of data obtained from 809 (ages 14–20 years) participants from selected schools in Ota, near Lagos State, Nigeria. For data collection, the youth questionnaire on underage drinking was employed. This data article presents information on participants' alcohol demographics. Analyses of the data can provide insights into heavy episodic drinking (HED), ever drinkers, prevalence of alcohol consumption, strategies to reducing alcohol use, reasons for underage drinking and effects of alcohol consumption. The data will be useful for public health interventions.
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