Influence of demographic variables and posttraumatic stress disorder on substance abuse among Nigerian Military Personnel in Jaji, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

Recently, the rate of substance use amongst military personnel has subsequently increased over the years. Psycho active substances  (drugs) are those substances that cross the brain - blood barrier and significantly alter mood, consciousness, and perception. It is on this  note that the study investigated the influence of demographic variables and Posttraumatic stress disorder on substance abuse among  Nigerian military personnel using simple random sampling technique were employed to select participants. Sixty- five participants where  between the ages of 18 to 55 years, both were Two instruments were deployed, PTSD checklist Military Version (PCLM) and DAST to  collect data using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression  Analysis for the test of hypotheses. Hypothesis one revealed that there was no statistically significant negative relationship between posttraumatic stress and substance abuse among military personnel in Jaji, [r (63)= 0.061; p>0.05]. Second Hypothesis revealed that age,  marital status, religion, education, rank, experience and Arm of service significantly and jointly influence military personnel substance  abuse thus, accounted for about 32.1% variance for the substance abuse among military personnel in Jaji, the results indicate a  significantly positive influence of religion (β= .243, t= 2.154, p< 0.05) and rank (β= .491, t=3.439, p<0.05) on substance abuse among  military personnel in Jaji. The third hypothesis indicates a significantly positive influence of marital status (β= .447, t= 2.771, p<0.05) and  arm of service (β= .312, t= 2.628, p<0.05) on the posttraumatic stress among military personnel in Jaji. The study concluded that  demographic factors significantly and jointly predict PTSD among Nigerian military personnel. Therefore, we recommended that the  Nigerian military should establish mental health/rehabilitation hospitals for the treatment of personnel suffering from PTSD and  substance related disorders to promote quality of life of victims.