Parental involvement, peer influence and openness to experience and undergraduates’ substance abuse in Ogun East Senatorial District, Ogun State, Nigeria

Substance abuse has been considered to be a serious problem among young people especially College students. Unchecked substance abuse among youths and the entire population could negatively affect general wellbeing and life expectancy. This study, therefore, set out to determine the relative and composite contribution of the parental involvement, peer influence and openness to experienceto undergraduates’substance abuse in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive research design of the ex- post facto type. 400 undergraduates, chosen through sample random technique, participated in the study. The results revealed a negative relationship between openness to experience and parental involvement (r=-.261; p<.01), substance abuse and parental involvement (r= 0.042; p< .01), peer influence and parental involvement (r = 0.290; p<0.01) and a positive relationship between openness to experience and substance abuse (r =0.474; P<.01), openness to experience and peer influence (r =0.474; p< 0.01), peer influence and substance abuse (r=.582; p<.01). Also, the results showed that peer influence hadthe highest contribution to the prediction (β=0 .499; t=11.045; p<.05), then followed by openness to experience (β= 0.283; t = 6.335; p<.05) and parental involvement the least contributor (β=.0.177; t=4.301; p<.05).The study concluded that parental involvement, peer influence and openness to experience are among important factors responsible for high incidence of undergraduates’substance abuse in Nigerian universities. It was therefore, recommended among other things, the need to develop comprehensiveguidance programmes to accommodate substance abuse tasks. Parents should serve as good role models to their wards by not abusing substance in their presence. They also need to monitor their wards and the peers they keep.

Keywords: Parental involvement, peer influence, openness to experience, substance abuse, undergraduates