Factors Contributing to Drug Abuse Among the Youth in Kisenyi, Rubaga Division, Kampala Uganda.
Abstract
Background
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report (2009), 10% to 69% of suicides are committed annually under the influence of substance abuse and between 10-20% of parents abusing their children have drug use disorders that they have developed overtime as they use these drugs.
Broad Objective
To establish the factors contributing to drug abuse among the youth in Kisenyi parish- Rubaga Division, Kampala in may 2013
Methods
The researcher used convenience sampling procedure to enroll participants into the study; any youth who was considered suitable to participate in the study was recruited consecutively until the required sample is achieved. The research is a descriptive cross-sectional study and therefore both Qualitative and Quantitative methods of data collection were employed to establish the factors contributing to drug abuse among the youth in Kisenyi parish, Rubaga Division, Kampala-Uganda.
Results
About 78 (30%) of the total respondents were drug users, drugs most abused in the area were Khat 52.6%, followed by alcohol abuse 25.6%, marijuana 15.4% and cocaine 6.4% and then use as the least drug abused was heroin at 2 (0.8%). As for drug users, all the drug users were found to be male 78 (100) male, respondents for drug users were aged between 16 – 20 years 78(100%) of which half 39(50%) were of Somali descent and the other half 39(50%) were Ugandans, most of them had just 39(50%) certificate level of education while 26(33.3%) were still in secondary school.
Conclusion
The most noteworthy predictors of drug abuse found in this study were among the psychological factors stress and peer pressure, among the socio economic factors age, income levels, and marital status and education levels.