Peer, Psychosocial and Environmental Drivers of Drug Abuse Among Secondary School Students in Okada, Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Adolescent drug and substance abuse is shaped by interacting personal, interpersonal and environmental influences. Understanding how young people perceive these influences is important for designing prevention strategies that extend beyond information-based approaches. This paper examined perceived determinants of drug abuse among secondary school students in Okada, Edo State, Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among 323 respondents. Data were collected using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. The analysis focused on eight perceived determinants of drug abuse: peer influence, curiosity and experimentation, stress and mental-health issues, lack of parental involvement, accessibility to drugs, lack of knowledge and awareness, media influence, and lack of prevention programmes. Frequencies and percentages were used to summarise responses. Combined agreement was calculated from the reported response categories, while 95% confidence intervals were estimated only for items with internally consistent aggregate counts. Results: High levels of endorsement were observed across all eight determinants. Peer influence and lack of prevention programmes each recorded 99.1% combined agreement, while stress and mental-health issues reached 99.0%. Curiosity and experimentation and media influence each recorded 98.1%, while lack of knowledge and awareness reached 97.8%. Lack of parental involvement was the least strongly endorsed determinant but remained high at 88.9%. Accessibility to drugs was also reported at 99.1% combined agreement. The findings showed a concentrated pattern of perceived risk spanning peer, psychosocial, family, informational and environmental domains. Conclusion: Secondary school students in Okada perceived drug abuse as a multi-level problem rather than the product of a single behavioural influence. Prevention efforts should therefore combine peer-focused strategies, psychosocial support, parental engagement, strengthened prevention programming, improved drug-related knowledge and community-level measures addressing substance accessibility. The cross-sectional and perception-based design does not permit causal inference.