Understanding the Influence of Substance use on Academic Performance

Substance use creates emotional, social and economic burden to individuals, family and the society. It is consumed for pleasure sake with little or no regard for the consequences that follow. Most societies disapprove of its use among adolescents. It is observed to have detrimental effects on academic problems face by adolescent students; it influence the personality of adolescent students and influence the way they perceive the future. It is a problem, which must be checked and controlled to avoid a growing burden on the person directly or indirectly affected. This paper examines the effect of substance use on the academic performance of adolescent students. The adolescent group is targeted in this study because it is a transition group that suffers from identity confusion. Four hypotheses were developed and tested by collecting data from a sample of 250 respondents. The questionnaire was the main instrument used to achieve this. Results of the survey showed that substance use is an important determinant of academic problems face by adolescent students and consequently has a negative effect on their academic performance.