Prevalence and correlates of substance use among school children in six African countries
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2009
TITLE AUTHOR(S): K.Peltzer
KEYWORDS: SCHOOL CHILDREN, SUBSTANCE ABUSE
DEPARTMENT: Public Health, Societies and Belonging (HSC)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 5690
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/5006
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/5006
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
An increasing trend of noncommunicable diseases is a worldwide phenomenon, also including the developing countries. Few studies focus on adolescents' substance use in relation to mental distress and protective factors in African countries. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlates (mental distress and protective factors) of substance use among school-going adolescents in six African countries. The sample included 20,765 students aged from 13 to 15 years from six African countries (Kenya, Namibia, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe), chosen by a two-stage cluster sample design to represent all students in grades 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 in each country. The measure used was part of the Global School-Based Health Survey (GSHS) questionnaire, including various domains of health behaviour. Results indicate a prevalence of 12.6% tobacco use (past month), 6.6% risky alcohol use (two or more per day for at least 20 days or more in the past month), and 10.5% of illicit drug use (three or more times ever) in school-going adolescents in six African countries. School truancy, loneliness, sleeping problems, sadness, suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and poverty were associated with substance use (tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs), while school attendance and parental supervision and connectedness were protective factors for substance use, and peer support protective for tobacco use. It is concluded that tobacco use, risky drinking and illicit drug use were common, clustered together and were associated with school truancy, mental distress, and lack of parental and peer support among adolescent African school children. These findings stress the need for early and integrated prevention programmes.-
Related Research Outputs:
- Substance use among high school learners in the Buffalo flats of East London, South Africa
- Unintentional injuries and psychosocial correlates among in-school adolescents in Malaysia
- Early substance use initiation and suicide ideation and attempts among school-aged adolescents in four Pacific Island countries in Oceania
- Learners
- The spatial behaviour of criminal substance users (transparencies)
- Monitoring alcohol and drug abuse trends in South Africa. Proceedings of South African Community Epidiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU) report back meetings, March/April 2002; July-December 2001: Phase 11
- Crime and substance abuse in South Africa
- The drug-crime nexus in South Africa: the HSRC SA-ADAM national survey: results at a police station level in South Africa. Part 3
- WHO: global initiative on primary prevention of substance abuse: community profile 1 and 2 of South Africa
- Spatial interpolation vs neural network propagation as a method of extrapolating from field surveys
- South African Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU): July-December 1999: (phase 7)
- South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU): January - June 2000: (phase 8)
- South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU): July-December 2000: (phase 9)
- South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU): key alcohol and drug abuse trends: July-December 2000
- South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU): alcohol and drug abuse trends: January-June 2001
- South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU): alcohol and drug abuse trends: July-December 2001
- Alcohol and risks for HIV/AIDS among sexually transmitted infection clinic patients in Cape Town, South Africa
- The drug-crime nexus in South Africa: Part 1
- Alcohol and Drug Abuse Trends: July-December 2002 (Phase 13)
- Preventing substance abuse among rural African-American and South African youths. Challenges and opportunities of cross-cultural collaboration