Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy
Open Access

Influence of personality traits and peer pressure on substance use among emerging adults in ibadan, nigeria

35^th World Summit on Positive Psychology, Happiness, Mindfulness and Wellness

April 28-29, 2022 | Webinar

Adu Richard Akinjide

Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Psychol Psychother

Abstract :

Substance use has continued to generate intense interest among psychologists and other concerned stakeholders. This is because substance use has been linked to various negative outcomes such as poor academic performance, criminality among others. However, there is dearth of literature as to how personality traits and peer pressure could influence substance use among emerging adults in Nigeria. This study therefore, examined influence of personality traits and peer pressure on substance use among emerging adults in Ibadan, Nigeria. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 298 emerging adults (159 males, 139 females) whose ages ranged from 17 - 29 years with mean age 21.35 and SD of 2.44. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire comprising demographic variables, and three validated scales. Four hypotheses were formulated and tested for the study. The result showed that, personality traits jointly predicted substance use significantly among the sampled emerging adults [R2= 0.16, F (5, 292) = 11.18; P < .01]. Also, peer pressure significantly influenced substance use of the sampled emerging adults [t (296) = 2.38; P <. 05]. However, sex did not significantly influence substance use of the sampled participants [t (293) = 1.00; P >. 05]. This finding implied that there was no significant sex difference in substance use of female and male emerging adults. Furthermore, religious affiliation significantly influenced substance use of the sampled participants [F (2, 291) = 4.19; P < .05] with Christians ( = 136.02) significantly reported higher on substance use than Muslims ( = 126.93). The study concluded that, personality traits, peer pressure and demographics were relevant in predicting substance use among emerging adults. It is recommended that psychologists should develop an intervention programme tailored towards helping emerging adults connect to peers which will make them to less susceptible to substance use. Keywords: 296 Word count: Personality traits, Peer pressure, Demographics, Substance use.

Biography :

Adu Richard Akinjide , he is a professor at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania