Correlates for psycho-active substance use among boarding secondary school adolescents in Enugu, South East, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Psycho-active substance use among adolescents is a national and global problem and its attendant effects on adolescents cannot be overemphasized. The objectives of this study are to determine the prevalence and pattern of psychoactive substance use among adolescents; the substances involved and the extent of the problem in this locale. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study that assesses the pattern of psychoactive substance use among secondary school adolescents in Enugu, south East, Nigeria. The study was carried out among adolescents attending six secondary boarding schools in Enugu metropolis of Enugu State of Nigeria. The WHO Student Drug Use Questionnaire was adapted for this study. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences program (SPSS), version 17. Chi-square and multivariate regression were used as a test of significance for qualitative variables. A p-value less than 0.05 were accepted as significant for each statistical test. RESULTS: Out of 900, a total of 896 respondents, comprising 400 and 82 boys (482) (53.8 %) and 400 and 14 girls (414) (46.2 %) completed the questionnaires. This gave a response rate of 99.6 %. The study revealed that the prevalence of current use for psychoactive substances ranges from 0.4 to 34.9 % while that for life use ranges from 0.8 to 63.5 %. The least being cannabis and the most being kola nuts. Kola nut is the most widely used psychoactive substance both for current use, past year use and the respondents’ life time use. It shows a lifetime prevalence of 63.5 % and a current use prevalence of 34.9 %. More than half of the users of each of the psychoactive substances take it occasionally, using them on 1–5 days in a month. On the other hand, almost one-quarter of the users of each of the substances take it on 20 or more days in a month. CONCLUSION: The study revealed that the prevalence of current use for psychoactive substances ranges from 0.4 to 34.9 % while that for life use ranges from 0.8 to 63.5 %. The least being cannabis and the most being kola nuts. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12887-016-0615-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.