Substance Abuse, Self‑Esteem and Self‑Rated Academic Performance among Undergraduates in a Nigerian Private and Public University: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: This study compared the relationship between substance use, self‑esteem, and academic performance among undergraduates in private‑ and public‑owned universities.
Methods: Using a stratified random sampling technique, undergraduates from Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu; a private university (PrU) and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile‑Ife; a public university (PuU) responded to a structured, self‑administered questionnaire in this cross‑sectional survey. The procedure was explained to respondents and data were subsequently obtained. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results: An 81.9% response rate from 400 undergraduates with an overall mean age of 20.7 ± 2.14 years was recorded in this study. Over 20% of the respondents were observed to have either substantially or severely abused drugs with higher rates occurring among undergraduates in the PrU (14.2%) compared with PuU (6.5%). Overall mean drug abuse score was 5.95 ± 5.78 with a higher score occurring among undergraduates in PrU (t = −4.37; P = 0.001). More than half of the respondents indicated that drug use negatively affected their self‑rated academic performance after its use. Respondents’ self-rated academic performance after drug use (SAPAD) was weakly and moderately correlated with self‑esteem (PrU: ρ = 0.15, P = 0.003; PuU: ρ = 0.20, P = 0.004) and drug use (PrU: ρ =−0.61, P = 0.000; PuU: ρ =−0.52, P = 0.000), respectively. A negative weak correlation existed between respondents’ self‑esteem and drug use (PrU: R = −0.18, P = 0.009; PuU: R = −0.27, P = 0.000) across the universities.
Conclusion: Undergraduates in the selected Nigerian universities have a low level of substance abuse with high self-esteem. Substance abuse among students attending PrU is higher compared to PuU. In addition, the self‑esteem of undergraduates as an independent correlate of self‑rated academic performance can be used to check substance abuse among university students.