Drug Abuse and Academic Performance: A Study of Gender Variation among Adolescent Students

As elsewhere in the world, youth in Nigeria engage in behaviours that are potentially dangerous. The extent of drug abuse among the young is a source of considerable concern. This article presents the results of a study, which sought to determine whether drug abuse among young Nigerian women and men affected their academic performance. Three hundred and seventy students (male=227 and female= 143, mean age; 16.34±.23) participated in the survey. Of this number, 141 students were identified as current drug abusers. Results from current users showed a 38.1% prevalence rate of drug abuse. Reported drug abuse was found to influence students' academic performance negatively, χ2 (3) = 41.21, p < 0.001. Gender was found to be a significant predictor of reported drug abuse, χ2 (3) = 33.76, p < 0.001 with males reporting a greater degree of drug abuse. The study concludes that drug abuse predicts poor academic performance and calls for increased efforts to control this epidemic in young Nigerian men and women.