Parental monitoring, peer influence and substance abuse among secondary school adolescents in Makindye division, Kampala District

Abstract

In this study, the researcher investigated the relationship between parental monitoring, peer influence, and substance abuse among secondary school adolescents in Makindye Division. The simple random sampling strategy was used in the selection of 355 students from senior one to senior four (39.3% male and 60.7% female) from three secondary schools in Makindye division and data was collected using the Parental Monitoring Instrument (Adolescent Version), the Perceived Peer Pressure Scale and the Substance Abuse Scale. A correlation study design was employed where Pearson correlation coefficient was used to examine the first three study hypotheses. The results indicated that there was no significant relationship between parental monitoring and substance abuse (r= 0.074, p=0.29 > 0.05). Similarly, no significant relationship was found between peer influence and substance abuse, all the three components of peer pressure (i.e., yielding to peer pressure, resistance to change and peer encouragement) were not significantly related to substance abuse (r=-0.025, p=0.703; r=-0.024, p=0.718; r= -0.035, p=586) Furthermore, the study indicated a non-significant relationship between parental monitoring and two components of peer influence, namely yielding to peer pressure and resistance to change (r=-0.065, p=0.359, r=0.054, p=0.453). The data revealed a significant relationship between parental monitoring and peer encouragement. (r= 0.198, p=0.004). For the fourth hypothesis, peer influence did not mediate the relationship between parental monitoring and substance abuse. These findings suggest that, within the context of Makindye Division, parental monitoring and peer influence may not be significant factors contributing to substance abuse among secondary school adolescents.