Abstract:
Drugs and substance abuse is one of the major problems afiecting secondary school students. This problem impacts negatively on the academic, social, psychological and physical development among the abusers. This study was aimed at establishing the perception of public secondary school students on drugs and substance abuse and how their perception would influence their behaviour towards drug abuse. Perception involves psychological process that allows students to attain meaning to infonnation and then exhibit certain behaviour. Drug abuse is a major global problem. In Murang’a South District students are dropping out from schools due to this menace. Survey research design was used in the study. The study was carried out in Murang’a South District, Central Province. The district had 89 public secondary schools with a total population of 27,859 students. The female students were l3,456 and male 14,273, from this accessible population the sample size was 370 students. Purposive sampling was used to select l0 schools and stratified random sampling to select the sample size of the student respondents. A representative sample was randomly selected from fonn two and three classes. A questionnaire was used to get infonnation fi'om the student respondents and an interview schedule was used for the teacher counsellors. The questionnaire and interview schedule were self administered to ensure confidentiality. Piloting was done for the purpose of establishing the reliability and the construct validity of the instruments. Reliability was tested using the Cronbach alpha method, and was established at alpha 0.7. The validity of the instrument was established through consulting with the Supervisors and other experts from Egerton University. The data obtained was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The representation was done through fiequencies, percentages and t-test. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version I6 was used in data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that perception of the students on drugs and substance abuse contributed considerably to their behaviour towards drugs and substance abuse. This perception was formed through their immediate environment that is peers, parents, Media and neighbours. The number percentage of the students with positive perception on drug and substance abuse was 31.4%. The study recommends that parents, schools, and the Ministry of Education should address the issue of drugs and substance abuse at all levels of child development. This is because perception starts to be formed at a very early age. This should be through counseling and drugs awareness centers in the country. Media should be used to address the same issues due to its influence on the youth.
