Prevalence of Substance Abuse among Female Residential Students of Dhaka University

Nearly 17% of the female residential students of Dhaka University are substance abusers. Commonly used substances are cannabis (44%) and phensidyl (44%) while sedative ranks second (32%). Majority (87%) of the respondents procure them through friends and associates. Nearly 40% respondents perceive easy availability to be the main reason of abuse followed by peer pressure (26%) and depression recovery effort (22%). Substance abuse is found significantly associated with disturbed family peace, lack of attention of the parents and a wide array of frustration regarding study and future. Father’s education and occupation is also found associated with substance abuse behavior. Therefore, this work will be helpful for public health professionals and social scientists to find out the potential risk factors of substance abuse among female in the socio-cultural context to implement social and public health interventions.