Current alcohol use and mental health of adolescents among secondary school students in Nakuru county, Kenya
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Date
2013-07
Authors
Oteyo, J.S.
Mwenje, M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nairobi Academic Press
Abstract
Adolescents engage in behaviours that compromise their health and futurepotentials. However,
these behaviours are preventable. The current study was designed to establish the association
between current alcohol use and the mental health state of secondary school students in
Nakuru County, Kenya. Multi-stage cluster, stratified proportionate and simple random
samplingmethods were used to selectparticipating divisions (n=6), schools (n=14) and students
(n=1000). Global School based Health Survey (GSHS) was used to collect data on health risk
behaviours. Sixteen percent (n=161) of students reported use of alcohol 30 days prior to the
survey and of these 23.6 (n=38) and 32.9% (n=53) reported a low state of mental health and
had seriously considered attempting suicide.The study established that an alcohol drinker was
1.3 (95% C.I: 1.282-1.878) times likely to report a low state of mental health than an alcohol
abstainer. A co-occurrence between adolescents' mental health and alcohol use provide an
opportunity to draw together separate areas of research in designing a comprehensive approach
that may promote better health and education outcomes in secondary schools.
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Adolescents, co-occurrence, Current alcool use, Mental health and health risk behaviour
Citation
Journal of special needs and disabilities studies vol. vol. no. 1 p.129-138, July 2013