Influence of Drug and Substance Abuse and Academic Performance among Students in Secondary School in Gatanga Sub County, Kenya

The study sought to establish influence of drug and substance abuse among students in secondary school in Gatanga Sub County, Kenya. The study was guided by the socio-cognitive theory by Bandura (1994) which focuses on social influence on others behavior. The study employed correlation research design. The sample size consisted of 336 individuals and 17 schools. Stratified sampling was used to select the 17 schools; purposive sampling selected the 17 principals and the 2 education officials, while random sampling was used to select the 306 students and the11 guidance and counselling teachers. A pilot study was conducted in 2 secondary schools in Gatanga Sub County. Primary information from the 306 students was obtained by use of questionnaires, while an interview schedule was used for the 11 teachers of guidance and counselling, 17 principals and 2 education officials. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software program where descriptive statistics such as frequencies, means and standard deviation and inferential statistics which included regression and correlation analysis were computed. The findings were presented in tables and figures. The study revealed that an increase in influence of drugs and substance abuse would result to a decrease in academic performance of secondary school students. There is need to identify the influence of drug and substance abuse among students. It is also important to understand the students and their backgrounds. Others have issues beyond them such as genetics while others don’t have a support system or suffer from mental illnesses such as depression.