Substance Abuse, Self-Esteem and Self-Rated Academic Performance among Undergraduates in a Nigerian Private and Public University: A Comparative Study

Background: This study compared the relationship between substance use, self-esteem, and academic performance among undergraduates in private- and public-owned universities. Methods: Using a stratified random sampling technique, undergraduates from Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu; a private university (PrU) and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife; a public university (PuU) responded to a structured, self-administered questionnaire in this cross-sectional survey. The procedure was explained to respondents and data were subsequently obtained. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: An 81.9% response rate from 400 undergraduates with an overall mean age of 20.7 ± 2.14 years was recorded in this study. Over 20% of the respondents were observed to have either substantially or severely abused drugs with higher rates occurring among undergraduates in the PrU (14.2%) compared with PuU (6.5%). Overall mean drug abuse score was 5.95 ± 5.78 with a higher score occurring among undergraduates in PrU (t = −4.37; P = 0.001). More than half of the respondents indicated that drug use negatively affected their self-rated academic performance after its use. Respondents' self-rated academic performance after drug use (SAPAD) was weakly and moderately correlated with self-esteem (PrU: ρ = 0.15, P = 0.003; PuU: ρ = 0.20, P = 0.004) and drug use (PrU: ρ =−0.61, P = 0.000; PuU: ρ =−0.52, P = 0.000), respectively. A negative weak correlation existed between respondents' self-esteem and drug use (PrU: R = −0.18, P = 0.009; PuU: R = −0.27, P = 0.000) across the universities. Conclusion: Undergraduates in the selected Nigerian universities have a low level of substance abuse with high self-esteem. Substance abuse among students attending PrU is higher compared to PuU. In addition, the self-esteem of undergraduates as an independent correlate of self-rated academic performance can be used to check substance abuse among university students.