Abstract
:Background:The present study investigated the social and behavioral correlates of substance use, specifically bang or cocaine or similar drugs among a school-based sample of adolescents in a low-income urban setting.Methods:The study utilized data on 2,176 school-attending adolescents aged 11-16 years in Dar es Sa-laam (DES) to examine social and behavioral correlates for lifetime substance use. The correlates under investigation included, demographic - age and gender; social - poverty, parent-adolescent relationship; behavioral – truancy, aggressive behavior, injury risk; psychological- depression and suicide ideation. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were then carried out on several variables identified from the 2006 Tanzanian Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS) questionnaire. Results:Approximately seven percent of school-attending adolescents (n=144) reported having used an illicit substance at least once during their lifetime. After adding significantly associated covari-ates into a logistic regression model, we found that only truancy [OR= 2.29 (CI=1.07– 4.90)], suicide ideation [OR=4.36 (2.32 – 8.19)] and parents who had checked their adolescents' homework (OR=0.56 (CI=0.32 – 1.00)] were significantly associated with reported substance use. Conclusions:Our results suggest that health promotion programs should simultaneously target multiple factors associated with substance use behaviors among school-attending adolescents in Dar es Salaam. They should take into account the range of psychosocial characteristics of school-attending adolescents which may be impacted by or result from substance use.
Highlights
Substance use among adolescents is a growing problem of public health importance and research suggests that substance use behaviors are on the rise.[1,2] In their examination of contributors to the global burden of disease, Rehm et al (2006) documented that substance use behaviors accounted for approximately 4% of the disability adjusted life years.[3]
In the unadjusted analyses (Table 1), we found no significant associations between substance use and age, gender or socioeconomic status
Neither were having understanding parents or parents who were knowledgeable about their adolescents' free time activities significantly associated with substance use behavior
Summary
Substance use among adolescents is a growing problem of public health importance and research suggests that substance use behaviors are on the rise.[1,2] In their examination of contributors to the global burden of disease, Rehm et al (2006) documented that substance use behaviors accounted for approximately 4% of the disability adjusted life years.[3]. 22 Injury & Violence violent behavior, weapon carrying, sexual risk taking, drink-driving, overdose, self-harm, toxicity and death.[610] It has been associated with socioeconomic status, suicidal ideation, truancy, depression and having poor relationships with parents in several studies.[11,12,13,14] Adolescence is a transition period to adulthood and substance use during this important phase could potentially lead to dependence depending on access and availability of illicit drugs preventive measures are important where deemed necessary.[15]. Conclusions: Our results suggest that health promotion programs should simultaneously target multiple factors associated with substance use behaviors among school-attending adolescents in Dar es Salaam. They should take into account the range of psychosocial characteristics of school-attending adolescents which may be impacted by or result from substance use
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