Substance use and depressive and anxiety symptoms among out-of-school adolescent girls and young women in Cape Town, South Africa.

Journal: South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde

Volume: 111

Issue: 1

Year of Publication: 2021

Affiliated Institutions:  Substance Use, Gender, and Applied Research Program, RTI International, Atlanta, GA, USA. cpbonner@rti.org.

Abstract summary 

There is a high prevalence of substance use among youth in South Africa (SA), and adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) experience high rates of depression and anxiety. Substance use behaviours and mental health are associated with other public health problems among AGYW such as HIV and unintended pregnancy. Therefore, understanding the relationship between substance use and mental health is imperative to improve AGYW's health.To examine the association between heavy drinking, marijuana, methamphetamine and methaqualone (Mandrax) use and depressive and anxiety symptoms among AGYW aged 16 - 19 years who have dropped out of school in Cape Town, SA.Data for this report come from the baseline data of 500 participants of an ongoing cluster-randomised trial assessing the efficacy of a young woman-focused intervention to reduce substance use and HIV risk. After AGYW consented/assented to participate, they completed a urine drug screen and a baseline questionnaire.Logistic and negative binomial regressions, controlling for clustering at the neighbourhood level, revealed that frequency of depressive symptoms was significantly and positively related to a positive drug screen for Mandrax (β=0.07; p=0.03). All other associations between the frequency of depressive symptoms and substance use were not statistically significant (ps>0.05). The associations between frequency of anxiety symptoms and substance use were not statistically significant (ps>0.05).Our findings highlight the need to address substance use, especially Mandrax use and its associated risk, and depression in an integrated, youth-friendly setting.

Authors & Co-authors:  Bonner C P CP Carney T T Browne F A FA Ndirangu J W JW Howard B N BN Wechsberg W M WM

Study Outcome 

Source Link: Visit source

Statistics
Citations :  Reddy S, James S, Sewpaul R, et al. Umthente uhlaba usamila: The 3rd South African National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey 2011. Cape Town: South African Medical Research Council, 2013.
Authors :  6
Identifiers
Doi : 10.7196/SAMJ.2020.v111i1.14520
SSN : 2078-5135
Study Population
Women,Girls
Mesh Terms
Adolescent
Other Terms
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Country of Study
South Africa
Publication Country
South Africa