Abstract:
Background: Substance use is a broad term that cover taking of all psychoactive substances for
different purposes. According to WHO estimates, psychoactive substance use is responsible for
more than 450,000 deaths per year. Even though the problem is worsening no effective
measurements are taken, across the country.
Objective: This study was aimed to assess the magnitude of substance use and associated
factors among high school students in the case of Bole sub-city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2023.
Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional study design triangulated with an in depth interview
was conducted among 658 participants selected using simple random sampling technique and six
study participants purposively selected for an in-depth interview at Bole sub-city secondary
school students from March 01 to March 17/2023 . A pretested Structured, self-administered
questionnaire and in-depth interview guide was used as data collection tools. The data were
checked for completeness, coded and entered in to Epi info version 7 and then exported to (-
SPSS) version 25 software for analysis. All variables with p ≤ 0.25 in the bi-variable analysis
were taken to multi variable logistic regression for further analysis in order to control for possible
confounders. Adjusted odds ratio along with 95% CI and p-value < 0.05 were considered as
statistically significant association with the outcome variable.
Results: The magnitude of substance use was (27.4%) (95% CI: 21.4%, 31.72%).Being male
[AOR]1.54 (95%CI :1.024, 2.30), being grade 12 [AOR]1.94 (95CI: 1.09, 3.4),being in the
substance using family [AOR]1.9 (95%CI: 1.33, 2.74), availability of substances around school
premises [AOR] 1.5(95%CI: 1.002,2.112), having substance user friend [AOR] 1.5 (95%CI: 1.03,
2.2) and inclusion of substance topics to lesson [AOR] 1.95(95%CI: 1.34, 2.82) are variables
which are significant for substance use whereas not being affordable and type of schools are
protective factors [AOR] 0.64 (95%CI: 0.43,0.96), [AOR] 0.64 (95%CI: 0.4, 0.94) for substance
use respectively.
Conclusion: This study showed that substance use of high school students is increasing. So,
following these alarming issues schools and other related stake holders should focus on
significant factors which were stated in the above result
