Takele Achalu Dengela* and Bekele Simegn Demissie
Background: As one of the primary causes of human suffering, the use of drugs like alcohol, khat, and tobacco has long been recognized. It is now considered to be one of the most important public health and socioeconomic challenges in the world. Even though it affects every aspect of society, youth substance misuse is disturbingly on the rise.
Objective: This study's goal is to evaluate how social drug usage affects students' academic performance, specifically among those who will graduate from civil service university in 2021.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study that was done on an institutional level among civil service university graduates. For the current study, a sample of 271 students was selected using a straightforward random selecting procedure from nine departments.
Result: A total of 271 graduating students from various departments were involved in this study. There were 97 women and 174 men overall or 64.2% and 35.8% respectively. 33.6% of people used social drugs at some point in their lives. According to this study, alcohol, khat, and cigarettes were the most widely used social drugs (41.8%, 40.7%, and 12.1% respectively). Increased absenteeism from class (31.9%) and a drop in cumulative grade point (27.5%) were the most frequent effects of social drug use on students' academic performances, followed by lack of interest in everyday activities (25.3%) and worsening academic performance (15.2%), according to respondents. The most common reasons reported by respondents were recreational purpose (25.6%), and peer pressure (23.3%) followed by for socialization (17.8%) and the least reasons were academic dissatisfaction (13.3%), to increase academic performance (11.1%) and loss of family control (8.9%). According to the statistical analysis and p-value, age, religion, ever social drug use, current social drug use, started using social drug use and impact of social drug use have statistically significant association with CGPA.
Conclusion and recommendation: According to the studies, social drug usage had a negative impact on kids' academic performance. The most common effects were more absence from school, a drop in cumulative grade point, and a lack of interest in everyday activities. Alcohol, khat, and cigarettes were the most popular social drugs. This finding justifies responsible bodies educating people about the detrimental effects that social drug use has on students' academic performance, especially when they first enroll in college, and it also calls for more thorough research that examine the various issues related to social drug use.
Published Date: 2023-05-01; Received Date: 2023-02-24
