Substance use, Psychological wellbeing and copying strategies among the Youth in Old Kampala Senior Secondary School

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between substance use, psychological wellbeing and coping strategies among the youth of Old Kampala senior secondary school. The study was intending to achieve the following objectives: to assess the relationship between substance use and psychological wellbeing, to establish the association between substance use and copying strategies, and finally the relationship between psychological wellbeing and coping strategies among youth at Old Kampala Senior Secondary School. A correlation study design was used in the study to establish the relationship between substance use, psychological wellbeing and coping strategies among the youth in Old Kampala senior secondary school. This study used an estimated sample of 263 respondents who will be selected using a Simple random sampling method. Data was therefore collected using self-administered questionnaire and later analyzed using statistical package for social sciences. The results showed that there is a statistically significant positive correlation of substance use with coping strategies (r = 0.764 p <0.01). Further more the results showed that there is a statistically significant correlation of substance use on psychological well-being (r =0.796 p <0.01). The results showed that there is statistically significant correlation between coping strategies and surrounding environment (r = 0.507 p <0.01). Therefore it was recommended that to effectively manage substance use among youth, preventive measures such as eradication of exposure to violent acts, drug use events and creating a peaceful and favourable environment are advisable to help keep the psychological well-being in check.