Motivation for Alcohol Use and Risky Behaviors among Undergraduate Students in Southern Nigerian Universities

Abstract

This study explored the motivational basis for alcohol use among Nigerian youth, focusing on five universities from southern Nigeria and employing 770 undergraduate students as a sample. The design was an ex post facto quantitative field survey utilizing a multistage cluster sampling strategy. The participants consisted of youth aged 18-30 years, who were from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. A self-administered questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection (Cronbach alpha .77 & .79). The results showed among other things that conformity and coping with stress (30%), impulsivity and sensation-seeking (15%), parental/guardian influence (30%), and peer pressure (25%) were reported by the participants to be at the basis of their motivation to become alcohol users. The findings have implications for policy in terms of existing knowledge and nuanced policy with the potential to comprehensively both clinically and socially address the issue of alcohol use and abuse among students in Nigerian universities generally and in southern Nigerian universities in particular.