Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Use and Their Association with Bullying in Secondary Schools A Case of Nakuru District, Kenya

Abstract

For schools to foster learning and promote health-enhancing behaviors among adolescents they must first be safe and drugs free. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Studies carried out during the past two decades show that exposure to bullying can have immediate and late negative outcomes for children and adolescents who are directly or indirectly involved. This study was designed to examine prevalence of Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs (ATOD) use by secondary school students in Nakuru District and to measure its association with prevalence to exposure to bullying. Cross sectional survey design was used with a total of 1000 sampled students from a population of 6450. Multistage cluster, probability proportionate to size, purposive, stratified and simple random sampling methods was used to select the divisions, schools, streams and students. The study covered form one to four male and female students. Kenya Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) 2003 was used to collect data. Data was analyzed by frequencies, Chi-square and logistic regressions. 33.7% of students reported having been bullied in the last 30 days preceding the survey. Of the respondents surveyed, 15.9, 12 and 8% reported use of alcohol, cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in the last 30 days preceding the survey respectively. Cumulatively, 9.6% of students recorded having used other drugs. There was a significant relationship between alcohol and tobacco use with exposure to bullying. However, there was no statistically significant association between the use of other drugs and exposure to bullying. The prevention of ATOD behaviors and bullying among students represents an essential public health measure that may allow for total children’s development, qualifying them for a healthy and safe social coexistence. The researchers recommended that focus on prevention programs against alcohol and drug use in secondary schools in general should be mounted to reduce or eliminate bullying altogether.