scholarly journals Prevalence and Vulnerability to Drug Abuse among Students of High School and Colleges in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Study

Author(s):  
Khadeejeh Khader, Pharm. D, BCPS ◽  
Alaa Mohamed, Pharm. D. ◽  
Nahla Almesned, Pharm. D. ◽  
Nourah Alrukiti, Pharm. D. ◽  
Alaa Zayed, Pharm. D. ◽  
...  

Background: Drug and substance abuse is a significant burden worldwide. This problem affects many families in each community in a way or another. By the end, the misuse of these substances can lead to health associated problems in addition to social, economic, and legal issues. The Students’ susceptibility to drug abuse depends on different factors such as low self-esteem or to gain acceptance. Objectives: To compare the attitude of drug abuse between high school students and college students and to assess the common reasons that led to increase number of abusers. Methods: The study was conducted between February and May 2018 in Riyadh city on colleges and high schools students. A sample of 935 students aged between 15 and 25 years were randomly selected by distributing an online self-administered questionnaire for data collection. Results: The overall prevalence of drug abuse in Riyadh city was 18.94% among high school students (8.07% and 10.87% female abusers) and 24.14% among college students (13.87% male and 10.28% female abusers). A significant relationship was found between abuse and being a male students in college. The prevalence was different for high schools, the most widely abused substance was alcohol (44.5%) followed by Hashish (40.19%). These were used for different reasons the most common was for fun followed by escaping from problems. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that college students have higher prevalence and vulnerability to drug abuse than high school students, with the most commonly used substances being Alcohol and Hashish. According to our findings, the main reasons behind students’ abuse of drugs are due to boredom thus wanting to have fun and having problems so they escape from them by drugs. Due to the prevalence of drug abuse and the various reasons behind it as demonstrated in our study, we believe that parents should be more involved with their children’s lives, students should be encouraged to have hobbies in their spare time and guidance should be provided for them in order to learn how to deal with their problems correctly.

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-220
Author(s):  
Marisol Aquino ◽  
Mia Budescu

The present study investigated whether racial microaggressions, specifically assumptions of inferiority, assumptions of criminality/second class citizenship, and microinvalidations had a relationship with depressive symptoms, and whether this relationship varied by age group (adults vs. adolescents) and race (Black and Latinx). This cross-sectional study compared 194 undergraduate college students who were all over the age of 18 to 168 high school juniors and seniors. All participants identified as either African American/Black or Latinx/Hispanic. The results indicated that respondents identifying as Black/African American, regardless of age, experience higher levels of assumptions of criminality/second class citizenship compared to Latinx respondents, F(2, 350) = 0.82, p = .442, ηp2 = .004. Results also indicated that, among Black/African American college students, but not high school students nor Latinx participants, higher levels of assumptions of inferiority were associated with depressive symptoms (b = .34, SE = 0.07, p < .001). Assumptions of criminality/second class citizenship, on the other hand, were not related with depressive symptoms (b = .06, SE = 0.08, p = .433). Lastly, regardless of race, high school students experienced more microinvalidations than college students, F(2, 350) = 3.97, p = .047, ηp2 =.013. These results underscore developmental changes in how students of color experience race and racism as they transition from adolescence into adulthood.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-88
Author(s):  
Masood Abdulkareem Abdulrahman

Color vision deficiency is a condition affecting human's ability to see or recognize specific colors. It is mostly genetic, X-linked recessive inheritance and thus, is more common  among  males  than  females.  This  cross  sectional study was done to find the prevalence of color vision deficiency among high school students in Shekhan city and to find the relation of color vision deficiency with different races. The study has been conducted in two high schools that were present inside Shekhan city at the  time of the study (Amad high school for males and Hajand high school for females). All students screened by using Ishihara 24 plates.640 students (283 males, 357 females) were screened. Students' age range (15-22 years), the Mean age for males17.50 years and for females 17.13 years. The prevalence of Color Vision Deficiency was 6.36% among males and 0.84% among females. The most common types of Color Vision Deficiency  among  males  were  deuteranomaly  (10cases),protanomaly (5 cases), deuteranopia (2 cases) and protanopia (1 case).  There was no significant difference between races and color vision deficiency. Similar to dyslexia, before it was well known and well understood, color vision deficiency is aninvisible disability and can lead to students becoming disappointment with learning or feeling that they are moronic or less cable than others. It can provide erroneous rules for learning and indeed, even influence how well they do in their exams and consecutively their choice of career.


2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 523-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melike Demir ◽  
Gulistan Karadeniz ◽  
Fikri Demir ◽  
Cem Karadeniz ◽  
Halide Kaya ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To determine the factors affecting the smoking habits of high school students, their thoughts about changes resulting from anti-smoking laws, and how they are affected by those laws. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 11th-grade students at eight high schools in Ankara, Turkey, were invited to complete a questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 1,199 students completed the questionnaire satisfactorily. The mean age of the respondents was 17.0 0.6 years; 56.1% were female, of whom 15.3% were smokers; and 43.9% were male, of whom 43.7% were smokers (p < 0.001). The independent risk factors for smoking were male gender, attending a vocational school, having a sibling who smokes, having a friend who smokes, and poor academic performance. Of the respondents, 74.7% were aware of the content of anti-smoking laws; 81.8% approved of the restrictions and fines; and 8.1% had quit smoking because of those laws. According to the respondents, the interventions that were most effective were the (television) broadcast of films about the hazards of smoking and the ban on cigarette sales to minors. The prevalence of smoking was highest (31.5%) among students attending vocational high schools but lowest (7.5%) among those attending medical vocational high schools. Although 57.1% of the smokers were aware of the existence of a smoking cessation helpline, only 3.7% had called, none of whom had made any attempt to quit smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Although most of the students evaluated were aware of the harmful effects of smoking and approved of the anti-smoking laws, only a minority of those who smoked sought professional help to quit.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-22
Author(s):  
Sarita Tuladhar ◽  
Jamuna Gurung

Introduction: Conjunctivitis is a common health problem in Nepal. It is inflammation of conjunctiva presenting as red eye. It is a communicable eye disease. Health education to the students and proper management can help spread of the disease. Knowledge of conjunctivitis among school students will help in prevention of the disease. So the study was carried out to assess the knowledge of conjunctivitis among high school students in Pokhara valley of Western Nepal. Materials/ Methods: A school based cross sectional study was performed among six government schools in western Nepal from May 2019 to June 2019. Students from grade eight, nine and ten were included in the study. Data was collected using structured questionnaire including demographic data, knowledge regarding sign symptoms of conjunctivitis, treatment, prevention, complication of conjunctivitis. Data was analysed using SPSS version 11.6. Result: A total of 523 students were included in the study. The mean age of the students was 14.7 ± 1.2 years with majority of females (53%). Nearly 2/3rd of the students (61.6%) had heard of conjunctivitis. Majority of the students (87.4%) of the students mentioned that it is communicable while 80.3% of the students correctly mentioned its etiology. Majority of the students (97.9%) mentioned that it is curable with treatment as first option (97.5%). Majority of the students (98.3%) correctly responded to the preventive measures but majority of the students (83.2%) wrongly mentioned mode of transmission. Conclusion: Secondary school students in Western Nepal have poor knowledge of conjunctivitis. Appropriate eye health education should be given to school students to prevent rapid spread of infective conjunctivitis.  


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lekhjung Thapa ◽  
Tirtha Raj Bhandari ◽  
Shakti Shrestha ◽  
Ramesh Sharma Poudel

Introduction. Epilepsy continues to increase worldwide but, unfortunately, many high school students have inadequate knowledge of and negative beliefs towards the disease. We aimed to assess the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of epilepsy among high school students of Central Nepal. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional study was performed involving 1360 high school students from 33 private schools across Bharatpur, from June 2013 to July 2013, to assess their knowledge, beliefs, and practices (KBP) on epilepsy using a standardized questionnaire. The differences in mean KBP scores between different sexes, religions, and those personally knowing versus not knowing someone with epilepsy were assessed using independent t-tests; a Pearson correlation was calculated to assess the relationship between KBP scores and age. Results. Of 1360 participants, 79 (5.8%) students had never heard or read about epilepsy and were consequently excluded from statistical analysis. Only 261 out of 1360 (19.2%) had personally known someone with epilepsy. The mean KBP scores were 5.0/8, 7.4/12, and 1.7/3, respectively. Statistically significant differences were only observed in the knowledge component of the KBP score; female scored higher than males (p<0.001) and, interestingly, students who had personally known a person with epilepsy actually knew less than those who had not known one (p=0.018). We also found a significant negative correlation between knowledge and age (p=0.003). Conclusions. The overall knowledge, beliefs, and practices appear to be inadequate, emphasizing the need for further educational intervention.


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