Published Article

ABSTRACT

This study investigated drug abuse and academic performance of secondary school students in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State. The study adopted a descriptive research design. Four research questions and three hypotheses were used to guide the study. A sample of 400 SS2 students was drawn from the population through the stratified proportionate sampling technique and used for the study. Two instruments, titled "Drug Abuse Scale" (DAS) and "Academic Performance Test in Mathematics" (ADTM), were used for data collection. Face and content validity of the instruments were ensured by experts. The Cronbach Alpha reliability method was used to determine the reliability coefficients of the instruments, and the coefficients obtained were 0.79 for (DAS) and 0.81 for (ADTM). The researcher personally administered the instruments. Mean, standard deviation, and t-test were used for the data analysis. The findings show that; there is influence of drug abuse on academic performance on students, there is significant influence of drug abuse on academic performance on secondary school students based on gender, family types and family size. Based on the findings, conclusions and recommendations were made.

KEYWORDS: Drug, Drug Abuse, Academic Performance and Secondary Students