Cannabis and amphetamine use and its psychosocial correlates among school-going adolescents in Ghana

• Main Author: Kwaku Oppong Asante (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: BMC, 2019-08-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of cannabis and amphetamine use and to determine its associated factors among school-going adolescents in Ghana. Method The 2012 Ghanaian Global School-based Student Health Survey on 3632 adolescents aged 11-19 years (mean = 15.1 years; SD = 1.4) was used. Participants for this study were sampled from selected junior (JHS) and senior high schools (SHS) in all the 10 administrative regions of Ghana. A two-stage cluster sampling design was used to select 25 senior high schools to represent all the 10 regions of Ghana. Information was collected with a self-administered structured questionnaire that contained information on demographics, alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, violence, and a range of other health-related behaviours. Results The result showed that past-month cannabis use was 5.3% and lifetime amphetamine use was 7.1% among students. In multivariate model, after controlling for other variables, school truancy and current cigarette smoking were associated with both past-month cannabis and lifetime amphetamine use. The number of close friends was associated with only past-month cannabis use. School environment factors (bullying victimisation and having been attacked) and parental substance use were associated with lifetime amphetamine use. Conclusion This study identified a number of risk factors, including parental substance use and various risk behaviours, for both past-month cannabis and lifetime amphetamine use. School-based health intervention programmes should be developed taking into consideration the risk factors associated with cannabis and amphetamine use among school-going adolescents.

Item Description

10.1186/s13034-019-0293-0
1753-2000