Association between Characteristics of Students of a University of Education and Past Year Psychoactive Substance Use

Abstract

The use/abuse of psycho-active substances among students in Tertiary institutions is a commonplace phenomenon in Nigeria and the world at large. Despite this, there is paucity of data on substance use among Trainee Teachers (students of Universities or Colleges of Education) and the fact that these substances affect mental processes makes their study among trainee teachers germane. The objective was to find out the association between respondents’ characteristics and past year use of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis among trainee teachers of a University of education. The World Health Organisation Questionnaire for Student Drug Use Surveys was modified and administered on 500 students across the five faculties in the institution. 3rd year students were recruited from 3 of the 5 Faculties and 1st year students from the remaining 2 Faculties to enable comparison. Four hundred and ninety five questionnaires were properly completed. Males were 138 (27.9%) and females were 357 (72.1%). Four hundred and sixty seven of the respondents were in the 18 – 27 years category while 28 were in the 28 – 37 years range. Older age (28 – 37 years) and the male gender were found to be significantly associated with past year use of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis. Respondents who believed that there was no need to add the awareness training on tobacco and cannabis use effects to the curriculum in primary schools were significantly associated with past year alcohol use.

Key words: Association, characteristics, psychoactive substance, University of Education, trainee teachers