CULTURAL ORIENTATION AND USE OF CANNABIS AND INHALANTS AMONG SECONDARY-SCHOOL CHILDREN IN ZIMBABWE

A survey among 3061 secondary school children in four provinces in Zim babwe was conducted in 1994. In the present paper, the relationships b etween cultural and social factors and use of inhalants and cannabis a re explored. Respondents were selected by means of a two-stage sample design, first based on a complete list of schools in the four province s and subsequently on lists of students at the randomly selected schoo ls. Stratification was based on the identification of four different s ociocultural groups. Data collection followed standardised procedures and was conducted by a research team from University of Zimbabwe. Cult ural orientation was operationalised by means of a Likert-type 14-item scale on choice of media, language and music. Exploratory principal c omponent analysis revealed a two-factor solution, representing a globa l or Western cultural orientation and a local or Zimbabwean cultural o rientation. Drug use by older siblings and best friends represented so cial factors. A combined model of cultural and social variables was su bject to a multiple logistic regression analysis. Results revealed tha t the social variables and global cultural orientation were significan tly associated with increased use of both drugs, whereas a local cultu ral orientation was;found not to be associated with use of these subst ances. Findings are discussed in the light of historical and cultural factors. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.