An Exploratory Study of Substance Use among Adolescent Nigerian Students: Association with Bullying and Social Support

Recent reports show that bullying has persisted in Nigerian public schools. Cases that have attracted public attention were mostly those that resulted in death, but bullying may yield other seemingly benign but grave outcomes such as substance use in attempt to grapple with such personally overwhelming situations. Social support is expected to attenuate such extreme measures. Early onset of substance use has been linked with profound health challenges and adjustment problems later in life. Applying a cross-sectional design, the present study investigated whether bullying and social support were associated with substance use in a sample of 375 students aged 11-19 years who were selected from three public secondary schools in Abakaliki. Participants completed the Psychoactive Substance Use Questionnaire, Forms of Bullying Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social support, and provided demographic data. The mean score of 5.95 (SD = 6.02) indicated the use of substances among the students. Regression results showed that being bullied was positively associated with substance use and that being a perpetrator of bullying was also positively but marginally associated with substance use. Friends support but not family or significant other support was negatively associated with substance use. We consider that intervention programme that controls bullying in schools may also contribute to reduction of substance use among students.