Substance Abuse in High School Students: Their Self Efficacy to Avoid Substance Abuse and Related Factors

Objective: This study aimed at determining high school students' self-efficacy in the prevention of substance abuse and identifying related factors, given that substance abuse, a major health problem both in Turkey and in other countries of the world, is on the increase not only among adolescents but even among primary school students. Method The study population comprised 22,623 students (11,210 males, 11,413 females) in 37 high schools in the provincial center of Sivas. The study sample included 911 students (485 females, 426 males). The sample size was calculated using a formula for finite population sampling. The study data were collected using a Sociodemographic Characteristics Questionnaire and the Self-Efficacy for Protecting Adolescences from Substance Abuse Scale. In the data analysis, frequency distribution, variance analysis (ANOVA), Student's t test, Chi-square test, logistic regression analysis, and correlation analysis were used. Results: Of the participating students, 38.7% reported that they or people around them used a substance. The substances used were cigarettes (328%), alcohol (6.8%), bonsai (2.1%), bally (1.6%), cannabis (0.7%), and ecstasy (0.4%). The mean score on the Self-Efficacy for Protecting Adolescences from Substance Abuse Scale students who either used a substance themselves or had people around them who were substance users was 97.7 +/- 19.39, while the mean score for those who neither used a substance themselves nor had substance users in their environment was 102.24 +/- 18.51 (p=0.001). The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p=0.001). In the prevention of substance abuse, participants who were aged 17 years or older, had any illness, studied in a vocational high school, had a broken family, defined themselves as aggressive, had parents with a low education level, had a bad relationship with their family members, were not satisfied with school life, and had low academic achievement were found to have low self-efficacy (p<0.05). This was 1.46 times higher than in subjects who were not at risk of substance use among the members of the age group 17-19. Students with a history of illness were 0.53 times more likely to use drugs than healthy participants. Conclusion: It was concluded that studies should be carried out to improve self-efficacy to prevent substance abuse among high school students, particularly among those in the at-risk group.