Using the Socio-ecological Model to Examine Prevalence and Demographic Correlates of Alcoholic Beverage Consumption among Adolescents in Public Schools in Uganda

Introduction: Consumption of alcohol among the youth could be attributable to socio-demographic characteristics. This paper anchors on the socio-ecological model to expound on the prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of alcohol consumption among adolescents in public secondary schools. Specifically, the model was used to explore gender, religious affiliation, form or class of study, social media use, friendships, and involvement in places of entertainment as possible predictors of alcohol consumption. Method: We employed a cross-sectional survey with quantitative methods. The sample comprised 1819 participants, yielding a 91.8% response rate. Males were relatively more numerous (59.3%), and the mean age was 17.3 (SD = 1.9). Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were employed to deduce the association of selected demographics with the consumption of beer, wine, and spirits. Results: The prevalence of alcohol consumption was generally high. Multivariate logistic regression showed a significant gender difference in the consumption of beer and spirits. Females had lower odds of consuming beer and spirits. Students in the Muslim and Pentecostal dominions were less likely to consume beer, wine, and spirits than their Roman Catholic and Anglican counterparts. Students in the Roman Catholic dominion had higher odds of consuming any type of alcohol compared to other religions. Loving to be in places of entertainment and the use of social media significantly predicted the consumption of beer, wine, and spirits. Conclusion: At the multivariate level, some socio-ecological factors could account for differential alcohol consumption among the students. Individual student-level factors such as gender and the institutional factor of religion could explain alcohol consumption among the students. Specifically, gender

potentially influence their drinking behaviours.For instance, the microsystem of the ecological model could explain variables such as gender, involvement in places of entertainment, use of social media, friendship dynamics, and level of studying against alcohol consumption.
While measures such as brief interventions have been in place to address youth drinking, less is known about the application of contemporary theoretical frameworks in remedying alcohol use among the youth in schools in developing countries.Possibly, the social ecological model would serve as an addition to the available options for advocacy against youth drinking and better prioritize demographic antecedents in the prevention of alcohol consumption.
Often, in the context of a developing country like Uganda, alcohol consumption has resulted in hazardous and negative outcomes, including increased road traffic injuries, erosion of socio-cultural norms, involvement in risky sexual behaviours, premature death, poor health, interpersonal violence, and self-harm (Kalema & Vanderplasschen, 2015;Swahn, Palmier, & Kasirye, 2013;Tumwesigye, Atuyambe, & Kobusingye, 2016).In the face of the negative outcomes of alcohol consumption among adolescents, there is no known study using the socio-ecological model to examine alcohol consumption among adolescents in Uganda.Moreover, as Kabwama et al. (2016) contend, all previous studies involving alcohol consumption were conducted on a small scale.According to the report on alcohol consumption in Uganda by Young, Empowered, and Healthy [YEAH] (2007), there is hardly any large-scale empirical data regarding the types of alcohol consumed among the youth in schools in Uganda.The YEAH (2007) report further acknowledges the several surveys, anecdotal evidence, and estimations from key experts that provide a proxy indication of the level of alcohol consumption among Ugandan youth.However, the report above only captures drinking behaviours among the general youth population.Data on youth in schools was earnestly lacking.Therefore, this study allows us to gain an understanding of the "socio-ecological" variables predicting alcohol consumption among the youth in schools and potentially informs future interventions using social ecological theories among remedies to alcohol consumption in educational institutions.
The present study is anchored on a socio-ecological model to explore the prevalence and identify protective and risky demographic correlates of alcohol consumption among secondary school adolescents.The socio-ecological model posits that individual and environmental variables account for alcohol consumption (Gruenewald et al., 2014) among students.
The model comprises five layers within which interaction occurs -the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.The fifth layer may not be applicable in examining correlates of alcohol consumption with cross-sectional data.Therefore, this study is anchored on the first four layers of the ecological model.The concern here is that alcohol consumption among the youth is manifold to the extent of drawing from social and environmental influences.To that end, correlates of alcohol consumption among students mirror individual, interpersonal, institutional, communal, and societal echelons.
Particularly, for the interaction between individual students, the first and second levels seem relevant in examining alcohol consumption among students.Issues of age, gender, religious affiliation and practices, and the way these antecedents interact with students' socio-economic and neighbourhood spaces contribute greatly to expounding alcohol consumption among students (Connell, Gilreath, Aklin, & Brex, 2014;Hickey et al., 2012).Therefore, in the context of the socioecological model, this paper underscores students' age, gender, religious affiliation, and friendship, involvement in places of entertainment, use of social media, and form of students' classes as possible correlates of alcohol consumption among students.By and large, characteristics of students serve as a basis for adducing differences among alcohol consumers (Bliss, 2007;Manu, Maluleke, & Mbuyiselo, 2016;Surujlal & Keyser, 2014).
Regarding prevalence, and as previously noted, alcohol is the leading substance of abuse among adolescents in Uganda.
In fact, in a small-scale study, Abbo et al. (2016) found that the most common substance used among students in Kampala and Gulu districts was alcohol (23.3%).The WHO Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) reports that 12.8% of the students in Uganda had at least one alcoholic drink on one or more days during the past 30 days (YEAH, 2007).However, the survey lacked pinpointing ecological correlates of consumption of the different types of alcohol.Other studies (e.g., Atilola et al., 2014;Egbuonu, Egbuonu, & Effiong, 2015;Odejide, 2006;John-Langba et al., 2006;Onya & Flisher, 2008;Othieno & Ofulla, 2009) point to the prevalence of alcohol consumption as superseding the use of other psychoactive substances in schools among developed and developing countries.For instance, alcohol consumption is highly prevalent among students in the United States (Beck et al., 2012;Conway et al., 2013).In a study conducted by Fuhr, Fleischmann, Riley, Kann, & Poznyak (2013), current alcohol consumption was highest compared to current and lifetime drug use.In their study regarding alcohol consumption and treatment-seeking behaviour among young people in Sydney, Australia, Lea, Reynolds, and De-Wit (2013) found that 83% of their participants consumed alcohol (Wills, Pokhrel, Morehouse, & Fenster, 2011).Crooke et al. (2013)  In addition to the prevalence reported above, students' characteristics form a significant component of protective or risk factors for alcohol consumption (Beck et al., 2012;Handren, Donaldson, & Crano, 2016).Kabwama et al. (2016) identified that, regionally, Ugandans from the central and western regions were more likely to be medium to high drinkers compared to their counterparts in the eastern region.However, according to Tumwesigye, Kasirye, and Nansubuga (2009), In a study to review psychosocial risk factors for alcohol consumption, Donovan (2004) reports that only two studies examined age as a predictor of alcohol use initiation.In a comparable context, Rodham, Hawton, Evans, and Weatherall (2005) found clear gender differences in alcohol consumption among adolescents -more males than females reported drinking.The studies recorded above, however, were lacking in consideration of adolescents in secondary schools.
Likewise, most studies in Africa and beyond only consider age and gender as the correlates influencing alcohol consumption among adolescents.Key and informative demographic areas like students' level of study and religious background are not accounted for by previous studies (Oman, Tolma, Vesely, & Aspy, 2013;Pengpid & Pelzer, 2013).
Largely, religious inclination and faith tend to influence youths' decisions to consume or not consume alcohol (Al-Ansari, Day, Thow, & Conigrave, 2016).Church attendance in childhood is presumably protective against the early onset of alcohol consumption and the later development of alcohol-related problems (Mason & Windle, 2015;Porche, Fortuna, Wachholtz, & Stone, 2015).Moreover, evidence is available that youths who identify themselves as being strongly committed to particular faiths are less likely to consume alcohol (Marsiglia, Ayers, & Hoffman, 2012).
In the study to establish grade differences in alcohol consumption, Lakew et al. (2014) found significant findings, although the results were non-significant in multivariate models.Further evidence shows that weekly alcohol consumers in the US constituted about one-seventh of drinkers in the 9th grade but one-fourth in the 11th grade (Austin & Skager, 2011;Austin, Skager, Bailey & Bates, 2007).
The present paper considers a sample from four geographical regions, namely: Northern, Western, Central, and Eastern Uganda.Notably, Uganda is an amalgam of multi-tribal and multi-cultural societies.The present study premises on an understanding that each of the regions is a unique locality, with atypical socio-cultural settings.With that in mind, students in their respective regions show diversity in alcohol consumption in relation to demographic attributes.Diversity in students' backgrounds and school dynamics is the primary basis for our anticipation of the association between select socio-demographic correlates and alcohol consumption.
The secondary school system in Uganda consists of three distinct categories.In the first category are schools founded by religious entities and aided by either the founding bodies or the Government on behalf of those entities.In the second category are schools founded and run by individual private investors.The third category, the schools regarded in the study as "public secondary schools," were purposely considered and drawn from Uganda's capital city, Kampala, and ten other major towns.The schools considered by the present study were owned and managed by the government.This category of schools was considered based on a number of their unique characteristics.For instance, the schools were historically established to provide affordable education to urban poor children.As such, they were located in the periphery of major towns across Uganda.Further, students in these schools were mainly non-residents.That implies that students in those schools constantly and freely interact with the rest of the society, where alcoholic beverages are mainly found.Most of the students involved in this study were adolescents, with an age range of 13 to 20.All students above the age of 20 were hence regarded as emerging adults.Although the mention of emerging adults for a study in schools sounds odd, clarification needs to be made that the status of most public schools in Uganda considers a universalised education system.The school system allows students beyond school age, mainly from poor families, to access free education.
Therefore, finding students well above the age of 20 in Ugandan schools is not surprising.

Design
This was a cross -sectional study.Quantitative techniques were used for data collection and analysis.Quantitative techniques were used to generate objective and more generalizable results.

Measures
Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire.2003) on conducting school surveys on drug abuse.Specifically, students were asked whether they had consumed each of the alcohol-related substances (beers, spirits, and wines) in the previous 12 months.
For instance, students were asked: for the previous 12 months, how frequently have you taken beers (e.g., Bell, Tusker, Nile, Guinness, etc.)?The initial items regarding alcohol consumption were based on a Likert scale carrying five responses, namely: 1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4 = often, and 5 = very often.Responses to each of the items were transformed into a binary scale: response category 1 was dummied to denote "No" or "never used," and the other categories of 2, 3, 4, and 5 were dummied to denote "Yes" or "ever used."That was done to generate a response pattern suitable for the computation of prevalence rates and to compare alcohol consumers and non-consumers.The items were written in simple language to improve interpretability among students from different classes and schools.Names of local brews of alcohol in different regions of Uganda were included in the questionnaire as synonyms for respective items, based on data provided by the National Care Centre.For instance, local names for spirits were given as enguli/waragi/kasese. Names of locally made alcohol were included to improve the validity of the responses generated.
During the analyses, alcohol consumption items were dummied to consider students who consumed one or more types of alcohol -'polyalcohol consumption'.

Sample Selection
The sampling strategy was thought out and coined after consideration of the distribution of public schools across the geographical space.To that end, the sample was obtained by first clustering schools within their respective regions.
Thirteen schools were purposively and then proportionately sampled, three from each of the northern, western, and central regions.Four schools were sampled from the eastern region.Purposive sampling considered only co-educational, urban schools.Proportionate sampling was used to strike a balance between Kampala city, which had many schools (about six), and other towns that had one school each.The sampled schools emerged from Kampala city and the following towns: Entebbe in the central region; Jinja, Mbale, Soroti, and Tororo in the eastern region; Gulu, Moyo, and Arua in the northern region; Fort Portal, Kabale, and Mbarara in the western region.The number of students in all schools was obtained using proportionate sampling.The overall sample was obtained using Leslie's (2002) method of sample size determination.Samples from their respective classes (senior two to senior six) were obtained using simple random sampling -each student present in the classroom was given a number, and then the numbers were selected at random.A total of 1,982 participants were sampled to participate in answering the questionnaire.However, 1,819 returned the completed questionnaires, making a response rate of 91.8%.Data collection took place mainly in classrooms.However, in some circumstances, other places, e.g., school compounds and laboratories, were used to avoid the distraction of school activities.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
All students in senior two and above present at the time of data collection were eligible for the study.Students absent from school at the point of data collection were excluded from the study.The study items asked about the experience of alcohol consumption within the previous 12 months of secondary school life.Therefore, senior one students were excluded from the study.

Data Analysis
Data were first entered into IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 20.0, and then exported to STATA version 15.0 for analysis.Missing values were excluded using list-wise deletion.Descriptive data were summarized and categorized in terms of frequencies and weighted percentages to correct for sampling errors.The weighting of data was based on students' region of origin and age as a clustering variable.The prevalence of consumption of the different types of alcohol was explored using descriptive statistics.Percentages were used to report the prevalence of consumption of Beers, Wines, and Spirits.The statistical significance of the proportions of alcohol consumers was examined using chi-square p-values (Bohnert et al., 2010;Conway et al., 2013).Descriptive statistics of the study sample are presented in Table 1.Analyses were set at a 5% confidence interval.Associations of the students' socio-demographics with the consumption of Beers, Wines, and Spirits were explored using bivariable and multivariable logistic regressions.All covariates were entered into the multivariate model, as they were all plausible correlates of alcohol consumption.The models were adjusted for students' age and region of origin.Part of the technique and data reported in this paper have been previously considered elsewhere.

Results
This paper anchors on the socio-ecological model to expound on the prevalence and demographic correlates of consumption of alcohol among adolescents in public secondary schools.Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression models testing associations between socio-demographic variables and consumption of beers, wines, and spirits among students are reported in Tables 2, 3, and 4, respectively.Among the participants included in the analyses, the majority were males (59.28%), had 2 or more friends (93.13%), liked visiting places of entertainment (71.25%), and were very religious (54.95%,Table 1).The overall prevalence of the consumption of beer was 27.93%.extent of religiousness (somewhat [AOR = 1.6, 95%CI: 1.27-2.12,p < 0.001] and not religious [AOR = 2.5, 95%CI: 1.25-4.99,p <.01]) was associated with a higher likelihood of beer consumption.Additionally, students who identified as loving places of entertainment were two-fold more involved in beer consumption (AOR = 2.0, 95%CI: 1.52-2.83,p <.001).
Regarding the consumption of wines, it was established that the overall prevalence of wine consumption was 37.56%.
The independent socio-demographic determinants of wine consumption were religious affiliation, loving places of entertainment, and use of social media.Students of Roman Catholic religious affiliation had a higher likelihood of wine consumption compared to Muslims (AOR = 0.2, 95%CI: 0.14-0.37,p = 0.001) and Pentecostals (AOR = 0.3, 95%CI: 0.23-0.52,p < 0.001).In addition, a lower extent of religiosity was associated with a higher likelihood of wine consumption (somewhat [AOR = 1.4,95%CI: 1.10-1.77,p <.01]; not religious [AOR = 2.8, 95%CI: 1.46-5.58,p <.01]).Additionally, students who loved being in places of entertainment were two-fold more involved in wine consumption (AOR = 1.9, 95%CI: 1.52-2.83,p = 0.001).However, students who often used social media were 1.6 times more likely to be involved in wine consumption compared to those who did not (AOR = 1.6, 95%CI: 1.16-2.15,p <.01).The prevalence of consumption of spirits was 18.08%.The socio-demographic correlates of consumption of spirits were gender, religious affiliation, religiosity, love of being in places of entertainment, and use of social media.The likelihood of consumption of spirits was 0.7 times lower among females compared to males (AOR = 0.7, 95% CI: 0.52-0.99,p <.05).

Discussion
The aim of this paper is to use the socio-ecological model to expound on the prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of alcohol consumption among school adolescents.Percentages and logistic regressions were used in achieving the study objective.In the results, consumption of wines and beers was higher compared to the use of spirits.
The findings may not be surprising, as the students considered in this study were largely in urban and day schools.
Moreover, alcohol is readily available to Ugandan youth, both in local brews and industrially (Kafuko & Bukuluki, 2008;Kalema et al., 2015).Following the abundance of different types of alcohol, the WHO GSHS survey among students in Uganda approximates that 12.8% of the students had at least one alcoholic drink on one or more days during the past 30 days (YEAH, 2007).Thus, the rate was expected to be a little higher in a study conducted a decade later.
Probably, the result that consumption of alcoholic beverages was high could imply that students get access to highdensity alcohol outlets in their localities, which sell both regulated and unregulated beverages.Production of locally made alcohol in Uganda is practically not regulated, as many youths turn to alcohol consumption.It has previously been reported that many homesteads ferment and distil local brands from the abundant fruits (YEAH, 2007).
The variations in religious affiliation and students' alcohol consumption come after a fair body of literature relating religion and alcohol consumption among the youth.For instance, previous studies show that religious inclination and particular faiths tend to influence youths' decisions to consume or not consume alcohol (Al-Ansari, Day, Thow, & Conigrave, 2016;Sinha et al., 2007).Accordingly, studies show that attendance at church during childhood was protective against early onset of alcohol consumption.Church attendance further protects the youths against later development of alcohol-related problems (Mason & Windle, 2015;Porche, Fortuna, Wachholtz, & Stone, 2015).Consequently, youths who self-identified as having strong commitment to particular faiths were evidently less likely to consume alcohol (Marsiglia, Ayers, & Hoffman, 2012).
Alternatively, students could be accessing alcohol through cultural rituals and ceremonies.Consumption of church wine, for example, is well ritualized among Christian faithful, and often, alcohol is integrated into religious ceremonies (Luczak et  , 2014).Notably, the findings could be located in the socio-ecological theory of alcohol use.According to the theory, individual students' behaviours interact with the institutions where the adolescents belong (Connell et al., Hickey et al., 2012;Tholen et al., 2020).Churches and their ritualized ceremonies may not be the exception.
All the same, the present study's findings on the prevalence of alcohol consumption are supported by similar studies elsewhere.Accordingly, alcohol is the most consumed substance among adolescents in developing countries (Newton, Harvard, & Teesson, 2011;Sanhueza, Delva, Bares, & Grogan-Kaylor, 2013), and in highly developed countries (Anderson, Ramo, Cummins, & Brown, 2009;Fuhr et al., 2013).In the neighbourhood of Uganda -Kenya, Othieno & Ofulla (2009) support the present study's results -reporting that alcohol consumption among students was most prevalent.Similar studies predict that alcohol consumption among adolescents is higher than the consumption of other drugs (Beck et al., 2012;Fuhr et al., 2013).
The results regarding socio-demographic correlates of alcohol consumption were significant at both the individual and institutional ecological levels.Adjusted logistic regression models show significant gender differences in the consumption of beers and spirits, but not in the consumption of wines.In addition, males had higher odds of consuming beers and spirits.Gender differences in alcohol consumption have been reported previously.Rodham et al. (2005) found that more males than females reported drinking.Hahn et al. (2014) also found significant gender differences in current hazardous and non-hazardous drinking.Male students were more likely than females to report drinking, although only by a relatively small margin (O' Malley et al., 1998).Kabwama et al. (2016) found that in comparison with their female counterparts, males were more likely to be medium and high alcohol consumers.The findings regarding gender could be explained based on socioecological theory.At the nucleus of the socioecological model, students' micro-characteristics, including gender, define differences between males and females and between individuals of a particular gender as well.Moreover, the model seems to account for the way the microsystem nurtures different genders, hence the difference in the consumption of alcoholic beverages.However, the present study's findings contradict those of Wu et al. (2014) in their study to establish correlates of protective motivation theory to adolescents' drug use intention.
Nevertheless, the present study's results affirm previous studies in revealing that being male was a risk factor for alcohol consumption (Lorant et al., 2013;Osman et al., 2016;Swahn et al., 2013).The female gender, on the other hand, was protective against alcohol consumption (Hahn et al., 2014;Lorant et al., 2013;Manyike et al., 2016;Osman et al., 2016;Swahn et al., 2013).Relatedly, Manyike et al. (2016) found that male students were about six times more likely to use psychoactive substances than females.In fact, Manyike and colleagues pointed out that the male gender and living in hostels were associated with alcohol consumption.The present study, however, significantly differs from the preceding report, as we did not consider living in a hostel as a risk or protective factor.The differentials in gender could be attributable to the first level of the ecological model.For instance, differential parenting, interpersonal, and institutional norms might nurture drinking more in males than in females.
Further differentials in significant findings were found in the exploration of religious affiliation and religiousness with regard to alcohol consumption.In terms of the social ecological model of alcohol consumption, religion, as an institution and part of the mesosystem, predicts or protects students against alcohol consumption.It explains the interaction between the innermost of a student and the factors in the surroundings related to alcohol consumption.On the other hand, religiousness is reflected in the "inner self" of the students and represents core values that protect against or promote alcohol consumption.Institutional ecological factors compare with Vantamay (2009).The study found that students in Muslim and Pentecostal dominions were less likely to consume beers, wines, and spirits than their Catholic and Anglican counterparts.Roman Catholics, in particular, had higher odds of alcohol consumption than any other religion.The result that Roman Catholics were more likely to consume alcohol than other religions conforms to common practices and previous literature.
Practically, some religions, such as Pentecostals, unequivocally loathe the consumption of alcohol among their faithful.To the end of the Islamic faith, the consumption of alcohol is strictly taboo.Islam is generally considered to have strong proscriptive norms against the consumption of all types of alcohol (Sinha et al., 2014).The Roman Catholic Church, on the other hand, neither condemns nor discourages alcohol consumption among the faithful (Sinha et al., 2014).That could be the reason why, compared to other religions, more students who identified with the dominion were more likely to consume alcohol than students could.Indeed, evidence shows that youth who prescribe to the Roman Catholic dominion are at a greater risk of falling victim to alcohol abuse and associated problems (Engs, 2004).
On the other hand, belonging to the Muslim dominion is protective against alcohol consumption (Al-Ansari et al., 2016;Hahn et al., 2014;Kalema, Vanderplasschen, Vindevogel, & Derluyn, 2016).Furthermore, Stafström and Agardh (2012), in their study to assess socio-economic determinants of alcohol consumption among Ugandan university students, found that being a Muslim was negatively associated with alcohol consumption.However, Stafström and Agardh (2012) made a rare observation that male Muslims were at a significant risk of engaging in monthly heavy episodic drinking, an observation the present study was unable to adduce.
Loving to be in places of entertainment and using social media significantly predicted alcohol consumption.In terms of the socio-ecological model, the two correlates explained alcohol consumption at the level of interaction between the students and the exosystemic environment.Indeed, activity in places of entertainment could be accompanied by alcohol consumption and other social behaviours.Therefore, it is likely that those adolescents who love such places could be drinkers as well.Moreover, students who go to places of entertainment have high chances of meeting their peers who influence them towards drinking.In addition, it could be possible that students who use social media interface with alcoholrelated messages that stimulate students' drinking, as several studies (e.g., Moreno & Whitehill, 2014;Winpenny, Marteau, & Nolte, 2014) have suggested.Generally, the socio-ecological model explicates the significant study results in terms of the variables in the immediate and extant student environment.

Limitations
Like many other surveys, the present study does not go without setbacks.In the first instance, the study relies on selfreported experiences from students.As Hahn et al. (2014) asserted, self-reported results could have suffered from underreporting.The possibility of under-reporting becomes prominent in the investigation of a controversial subject like alcohol consumption.Second, a cross-sectional study of this type falls short of causal comparison of correlates of alcohol

without much regard to the most formative stage of adolescence. Before the results of the present study, further research dealing with ecological
correlates of alcohol consumption in schools was necessary to inform practice regarding alcohol use prevention among students.Outcomes of this study potentially support ecologically framed, youth-tailored, participatory policy initiation and adoption.The social ecological model, in particular, considers antecedents of alcohol consumption and supports understanding of socio-ecological variables for future This paper employs the social ecological model in reporting on a technique of a large study that was conducted in 2013 and 2014 involving adolescents in public secondary schools in Uganda.The social ecological model was used to explore the socio-ecological variables described under measures, which predict alcohol consumption among a sample of Qeios, CC-BY 4.0 • Article, November 22, 2023 Qeios ID: JU8IUF.2 • https://doi.org/10.32388/JU8IUF.2 5/23 The number of friends was considered as 1 'Two or more', 2 'Only one', and 3 'None'.Variables like gender, religiousness, class of study, involvement in places of entertainment, and use of social media were considered to be at the micro-level of the ecological model.Other variables, like the number of friends, were considered as being at other levels of the ecological model.Alcohol consumption was measured using items carefully constructed following guidelines by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] ( The instrument was administered in classrooms or other convenient places within the schools.The instrument contained items to capture students' demographics, including region of origin and age as control variables, gender, religious affiliation and religiousness, love for places of entertainment, frequency of use of social media, number of friends, and class/form of study.Gender was classified into the usual categories of males and females.Students were required to select '1' for Male and '2' for Female.Religious affiliation is grouped around the common categories of Roman Catholics ('1'), Anglicans ('2'), Muslims ('3'), Pentecostals ('4'), Seventh Qeios, CC-BY 4.0 • Article, November 22, 2023 Qeios ID: JU8IUF.2 • https://doi.org/10.32388/JU8IUF.2 6/236'.Affiliation to a particular religious denomination is often contested as not being a measure of one's faith or "religiousness", probably because children are often inaugurated into religions at an early age without partaking in the decisions.To that end, this study sought to measure students' "religiousness" as a separate variable.Religiousness was