COUNSELLING AS A MEANS FOR RESOLVING CONFLICT BEHAVIOURS AMONG THE YOUTH: A STUDY OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE AMONG STUDENTS IN KATSINA STATE

Abstract

The study employed the descriptive survey approach to show how the abuse of alcohol, drug and other substance can be traced to factors that are biological, psychological, and social-environmental. A sample size of 142 subjects was purposively drawn from a population of 27, 057 students from schools in Katsina Zonal Directorate of Education. A researchers’ designed instrument, the Substance Abuse Inventory (SAI) served for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts in the field of Counselling and Psychology and also by the NDLEA officials. With the use of the split half measure, a reliability coefficient of 0.79 was realized for the instrument. The Pearson Product moment correlation statistical technique was used in testing the three formulated null hypotheses and results revealed that substance abuse correlated significantly with psychological and social-environmental factors but not with biological factors. It was recommended that substance abuse could be tackled by helping individuals understand and deal with substance cues and cravings by using behavioural interventions such as avoiding, leaving or changing situations that trigger or worsen cravings to redirect activities or get involved in pleasant activities and also by getting help and support from others. Thus, effective counselling interventions should be utilized to help individuals cope with such potentially conflicting behaviours for the development of an efficient generation that will ensure the realization of a peacefully stable and developed nation