Perspectives on influence of single parenting on student involvement in drug abuse in secondary schools in Kenya: a case study of kakamega east sub county

In Kenya according to countrywide survey students as young as 13 years of age are subject of drug abuse. According to National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) students use all tricks possible to abuse drugs during school visits, during school entertainment or at night in their dormitories. Children initiate alcohol and substance abuse at the age of 13 both at home and school. The commonly abused drugs are alcohol, khat (miraa), tobacco, bhang, kuber and even heroin in some quarters. This is mainly revealed when students engage in drinking sprees and sex orgies. It is commonly alleged that children of single parents are easily lured into use of drugs. In Kakamega East Sub County, between 2006 and 2011, eighty percent of the schools had experienced cases of drug abuse. Therefore, the objective of this study was to establish the influence of single parenting on student involvement in drug abuse in secondary schools in Kakamega East Sub County. The study established that respondents disagreed marginally on the view that single parenting influences student involvement in drug abuse as overall percentage for disagreed was 45.9, agreed 42.2 and undecided 11.4. The commonly abused drugs were alcohol, khat (miraa) and cigarettes. The less commonly abused drugs were bhang’, kuber, spirits and inhalants. The study concluded that single parenting had influence on student involvement in drug abuse. The study recommended that school administrators should involve single parents in dealing with cases of drug abuse.