An investigation of alcohol abuse among teenage learners :a case study of Lebitso Senior Secondary School, Limpopo Province

Abstract

There is dearth of information about the extent of alcohol abuse by teenagers, focusing mainly on the volume and the frequency of alcohol intake by teenagers especially in a rural setting. Most notable contributions are descriptive in nature and rely on cross-sectional analysis, with little specific focus on rural teenage alcohol abuse. To bridge the gap, this study quantifies the extent of alcohol abuse by teenagers in rural areas by means of a case study in Lebitso Senior Secondary School situated in Mopani District of Limpopo Province. STUDY DESIGN A mixed approach was used with the quantitative method taking the upper hand because of the nature of the variables for the hypotheses formulated which required statistical procedures. Simple random sampling was used as the study was characterized by the representation of the learners of one senior secondary school to represent the homogeneous nature of teenagers in a similar setting, in Limpopo Province. RESULTS The study population consisted of 251 male and female teenage learners of Lebitso Senior Secondary School. In the exploration of alcohol abuse by teenagers, the availability of liquor outlets in respect of the teenagers’households, and the socio-economic status of their families were revealed to have a bearing on their abuse of alcohol. 93% of teenagers had liquor outlets near their places of residence. The study has also shown that 87% of male learners and 13% of female learners had access to finances, which influenced their behaviour towards the abuse of alcohol. CONCLUSION Among the recommendations were that Education, Health, Safety and Security Sectors were to join hands in order to come up with preventative measures to deal with this problem.