Prevalence of substance use and associated factors among preparatory school adolescents in Dire Dawa City, eastern Ethiopia:

A school based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Substance use is a phenomenon which can be observed in different forms all around the world. Its use puts a heavy burden on individuals, families, and society. Substance use at early age is associated with many psychosocial problems like behavior pattern, psychiatric disorder, family system, peer relationship, leisure/recreation and work adjustment in later adulthood life different studies conducted elsewhere reported inconsistent findings and there is lack of evidence in the study area. Objective: To assess the prevalence of substance, use and associated factors among adolescents in Dire Dawa preparatory schools in 2023.

Method: School based cross- sectional study was conducted from Jan 2023 to Jun 2023 among adolescents in government secondary schools in Dire Dawa with a sample size of 417. According to the selection criteria four high schools were selected randomly. The data was collected using a self- administered questioner. Data entry, cleaning and analysis were done using SPSS version 23. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the data. Accordingly, frequency, percentage, graphs used.

Results: A total of 417 subjects were included in the study. The prevalence of substance use among preparatory school adolescents was 35.5%. The most frequently used substance was khat (17.7%) followed by alcoholic beverages 11.0%. The factors sex, availability, and accessibility of substance use, the reasons to use substance and perceived benefit were found to be associated with substance use with AOR and 95% CI of 2.1 (1.17,3.77), 3.3 (1.03,10.96), 6.1 (1.2, 31.5) and 7.0 (1.82, 26.93), respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of adolescent substance use in Dire Dawa was high when compared to other studies. It’s recommended to the government and school community work to prevent substances use to minimize the availability of substances use around schools.