ASSESSING THE SOCIAL PARTICIPATION OF UNDERGRADUATESINVOLVED IN DRUG ABUSE USING INCOMPLETE DISCLOSURE OFPURPOSE

Abstract

Previous studies on the social participation of undergraduates involved in drug abuse havebeen faulted based on sample and method of data collection; therefore, this study, throughan incomplete disclosure of purpose (deception) in data collection, examined the socialparticipation of undergraduates involved in drug abuse in Southwest Nigeria. This studyadopted a quantitative descriptive design, sampling 947 undergraduates involved in drugabuse through snowball and accidental techniques. Data were collected through anadapted two-section social participation self-reporting scale with a reliability coefficientof 0.91. These data were analysed using Percentage, Analysis of Variance, and t-teststatistics at a 0.05 significance level. The findings revealed the social participation ofundergraduates involved in drug abuse to be average; there was no significant differencein social participation of undergraduates involved in drug abuse based on academic level,university type, gender and residence. The study concluded that the social participation ofundergraduates involved in drug abuse was average, contrary to the existing argumentwhich opines a low social disposition. This implies that other studies which reported theirabsolutely poor social participation need to be given a second look, hoping thatstakeholders have not reported based on stigmatisation and labelling. The studyrecommended that undergraduates involved in drug abuse should not be considered as atotal social noncompliant and should be more encouraged to get involved in more socialactivities, such as campaigns against drug abuse. This will possibly be a means of assistingthem out of the menace.