High Incidence of Substance Abuse among Youths in Cocoa Research Institute Community, Ibadan, Nigeria

Aims: This study hereby examined the high incidence of drug abuse among the youths in Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) community at Ibadan, Nigeria.

Study Design: Multistage sampling approach.

Place and Duration of Study: CRIN staff quarters and surrounding communities.

Methodology: A multistage sampling approach was used for the study. The first stage involved the purposive selection of Senior Staff Quarters, Junior Staff Quarters and Alata road because majority of the respondents resides there. The second stage involved using simple random sampling technique to select Twenty- two (22) respondents from the three locations above, making the total sample size to be Sixty-six (66) respondents. Data were obtained using an interview schedule. Descriptive (frequencies, percentages, mean values) and inferential (Chi-square, PPMC) statistics were used to analyze the data at 0.05 level of significance.

Results: Mean age of the respondents was 31.0 years, this indicates that most of the respondents were in their youthful age and very energetic. Majority (80.3%) of the respondents were male and only 19.7% were female. In the causes of substance abuse, prevention of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) ranked first on the list with mean (1.87).

Conclusion: The relationship between Sex (χ2=0.032, p=0.859), Marital status (χ2=6.905, p=0.032), Religion (χ2=5.052, p=0.025), indicate that there is significant relationship between Marital status and Religion and effects of substance abuse.