Social Demographic Factors Associated with Drug Abuse Among Undergraduates in Ekiti State (Published)
This study examined social demographic factors associated with drug abuse among undergraduates in Ekiti State. Specifically, the study examined the level of knowledge on drug abuse expressed by university undergraduate students; level of drug abuse among university undergraduate students; and common drugs known as expressed by university undergraduate students. The research design adopted for this study was a descriptive survey. The population of this study consisted of all the students of Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, while the sample was 200 undergraduate students drawn from seven faculties. The respondents were randomly selected from seven faculties. A self-designed constructed questionnaire tagged “Drug Abuse Questionnaire (DAQ)” was used to collect relevant data for the study. The instrument consisted of five sections namely: Sections A, B, C, D, and E. The validity methods used were face and content validity. The items in the Questionnaire were presented to experts in the fields of Tests and Measurement, Social Studies Education and Guidance & Counselling. The reliability of the instrument was estimated through test re-test method. A co-efficient value of 0.88 was obtained which was considered statistically high to make the instrument reliable. The data collected from the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents have a high knowledge of drug abuse while only few engage in drug abuse. In addition, peer influence was related to drug abuse among undergraduates but family structure was not related to drug abuse. It was further revealed that male students have higher prevalence of drug abuse than female students despite having similar knowledge of drug abuse. It was recommended among others that discipline should be put in-place by university management to curb drug abuse among undergraduates.
Keywords: Drug Abuse, Family Structure, Gender, Peer Influence, Undergraduates
Psychosocial Factors Predicting Academic Adjustment of First Year University Undergraduates in Rivers State, Nigeria (Published)
This study was designed to determine the extent to which emotional intelligence, social support, self-esteem and coping strategies predict academic adjustment of first year university undergraduates in Rivers State, Nigeria. Correlation design was adopted for the study. Seven research questions and seven corresponding hypotheses guided the conduct of the study at 0.05 alpha levels. A sample of 382 first year university undergraduates of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, 2015/2016 academic session was chosen for the study through simple and proportional stratified random sampling techniques. Five instruments namely; Mangal Emotional Intelligence Inventory, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Coping Strategies Inventory and Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire – Academic subscale were used for data collection. Simple and multiple regression analyses were used for data analysis. All data were subjected to analysis using statistical package for social science (SPSS). Results showed among others that; emotional intelligence, social support, self-esteem and coping strategies taken together significantly predicted academic adjustment of first year university undergraduates. Based on the findings, it was recommended amongst others that; university authorities should introduce personality programmes that will provide training in emotional skills that will help university undergraduates in their overall adjustment to the new university environment.
Keywords: Academic, Adjustment, Psychosocial, Rivers State, Undergraduates, University
An Assessment of Undergraduates’ Nutrition Awareness Level on the Scourge of Cancer as a Current Devastating Phenomenon in Nigeria (Published)
The prevalence of cancer continues to increase in Nigeria. The factors that appear to be most responsible are poor nutrition and sedentary lifestyle. Therefore, this study examined the undergraduates’ nutrition awareness level on the scourge of cancer as a current devastating phenomenon in Nigeria. A descriptive research design was adopted for the study. A total of 600 undergraduates were selected through stratified and random sampling techniques from 3 universities in Ogun State, Nigeria. A self-developed questionnaire and pilot-tested was used to collect relevant data from the respondents. The data gathered from the study were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that Nigerian undergraduates are not well informed on the importance of nutrition in the prevention of cancer. Also, socio-personal characteristics such as gender, discipline, and school type significantly did not influence on how informed the undergraduate students are on disease prevention and making adequate food choices. In view of the outcome of the findings in this study, it is recommended that public health education be intensified to promote people’s awareness of the consequences of poor nutrition and sedentary lifestyle; and making healthy food choices.
Keywords: Cancer, Nutrition, Undergraduates, awareness