Self-esteem, stress and substance abuse among university students in Makerere University Students

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between self-esteem, stress and substance abuse among university students in Kampala. A correlational design was used and 50 female and 50 male students participated in the study and these were selected using the random sampling technique. The Rosenburg scale, (1965), the perceived stress scale (Cohen, Kamarck & Mermelstein, 1983) and substance abuse scale SAS-National Drug Authority Uganda, 2013 were the instruments that were used. Pearson correlation coefficient(r) was used to test the significance of the hypotheses and the results revealed that there is a significant relationship between self-esteem and stress (r=.002, p is <.01), there is a significant relationship between stress and substance abuse (r=.039, p< .05) and lastly there is a significant relationship between self-esteem and substance abuse (r=.001, p < .01) among university students. I recommend the training of students as it is necessary to guide them on the prevention of substance abuse among the young adults that are susceptible to substance abuse. Such training should be integrated into existing training programs rather than on their own.