Stress, substance abuse, and academic performance among Makerere University students, school of social sciences.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between stress, substance abuse and academic performance among Makerere University students, with an intention to achieve the objectives; To find out the relationship between stress and substance/drug abuse among students of Makerere university school of social sciences. To establish whether stress and academic performance are significantly related. To find out whether substance/drug abuse and academic performance are related. A sample of 100 respondents was studied. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires and later analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. Results indicated, moderate levels of stress, relatively high levels of Academic performance, a non-significant relationship between stress and academic performance (r= -.032, p > 0.05) and led that there is a non-significant relationship between Substance abuse and Academic performance (r= -.022, p>0.05). Although moderate levels of stress were observed among students of Makerere school of social science, they may not necessarily resolve to Academic performance. Several policies should be drafted by universities to support students’ well-being and dealing with stress management rather than solely focusing on obtaining of making big academic performances. And finally, there was a significant relationship between stress and substance abuse (r=.727, p<0.05).