ABSTRACT
Background: Substance abuse among children has become an issue of concern throughout the world. Increasing substance abuse and its impact on physical and psychosocial health is a worldwide public health concern affecting the early youth and subsequently the whole life of the individuals. Particularly disturbing fact is that the age of initiation of abuse is progressively falling. To plan effective interventions, it is essential to have information on the extent and type of substance abuse among school children and their attitude towards its control. Aims & Objective: To find out the prevalence and pattern of substance abuse among school children and the associated risk factors. Material and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among students (13-19 years) studying in classes 7th-12th in rural and urban areas of district Ambala, using the Self-Administered WHO Model Core Questionnaire. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. A total of 1500 students studying in various government and private schools were taken for the study purpose. Results: Overall prevalence of substance abuse was 60.0% for ever users and 34.93% for regular users. Substance abuse was more among male urban students belonging to nuclear families (p<0.001). Among ever users, alcohol (44.49%) was the most common substance abused while tobacco (14.42%) was mostly consumed by regular users. Substance abuse was more in age group of 17-19 years. Overall 42% were using more than one drug combination. Conclusion: Prevalence of substance use among school children in Northern India is high and causes significant physical and psychosocial problems in this population. A large proportion of those using drugs reported serious adverse effects, raising the necessity of targeted interventions to reduce the risk of subsequent substance dependence and other deleterious consequences.