Self-esteem, depression and substance abuse among school going adolescents in Wakiso district.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between self-esteem, depression and substance abuse among school going adolescents in a school located in Nansana municipality Wakiso district. The study targeted 100 adolescents, 58 males and 42 females aged 16-18years of age and a qualitative research design; correlational method was adopted to establish the relationship between the variables. A purposefully constructed self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the 100 respondents. Collected data was analyzed using Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS-24) and Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was used to test the level of significance of the hypothesis. Results showed that there is a significant relationship between Stress and substance abuse; (r=.297**, p=.000), stress and depression are also significantly related; (r=.606, p=.000), the results also revealed that Substance abuse is significantly related to depression among adolescents; (r=.320, p=.000).This study recommends that schools, organizations and institutions that deal with adolescents should endeavor to provide counselling to reduce high levels of stress which in turn may reduce intake substance abuse.