Alcohol abuse, social support and depression among school going adolescents

Abstract

Adolescence is a developmental stage that poses more challenges and requires a great deal of social support as many adolescents engage in harmful behaviors like alcohol abuse which greatly affect their psychological wellbeing. However, little evidence exists on the association between alcohol abuse, social support and depression among school-going adolescents. The purpose of the study was to establish the association between alcohol abuse, social support and depression among school-going adolescents. It was a quantitative study that used correlational research design. 225 respondents were selected to take part in the study. Using purposive sampling, participants were selected from five secondary schools in Wakiso district. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM V (SCID-V) was used to measure alcohol abuse and depression where as social support was measured by Multi-dimensional Perceived Social Support tool (MPSS). Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results reported no significant association between alcohol abuse and depression among school-going adolescents (Χ2 = 2.59, P >0.05) and, no significant association was found between alcohol abuse and social support (Χ2 = 12.53, P >0.05). However, there was a significant association found between social support and depression (Χ2 = 6.38, P<0.05). Social support was also found not to mediate the association between alcohol abuse and depression among school-going adolescents (b = .49, SE = .038, 95% CI = .158, .019). In conclusion, there is an association between social support and depression among school-going adolescents, and, considering the high rates of depression established in this study, approaches that aim at establishing and strengthening school based social support networks for adolescents may perhaps prevent depression. Existing studies on association between study alcohol abuse, social support and depression among adolescents may perhaps explain further the non-established association between alcohol abuse and depression, and, alcohol abuse and social support as partially due to school dynamics which may relate negatively to physical, social, and psychological life of adolescents thus if studied further can probably explain the non-significant association established among the study variables.