Indian J. Psydiiai. i996. 18(1), 43-46
DRUG USE IN A RURAL COMMUNITY IN BIHAR : SOME
PSYCHOSOCIAL CORRELATES
Renuka Jena, Shukla TR, and Hemraj Pal
ABSTRACT
Drug use has been an integral part of any culture. The use depends on many factors including the
avaiUibility. In the present study the drug use in a rural convnuity of Chotanagpur Plateau in the Ranchi district
of Bihar is focussed. The sample consisted of 157 inhabitants above the age of 15 yrs of the village Boreya
in Kanke block. A sample of drug users was compared with nondrug users of the same community on the
measures of stressful life events and locus of control. The results indicate that besides tobacco alcohol in the
form of locally brewed 'handia' (rice beer) and 'mahua' (made from mahua flowers) was used by 334 (28.87%)
individuals. Cannabis was frequently used (25.15%) Harder drugs were not used at all. There was an increase
in stressful life events in the year prior to the use of drugs. The increase in life events was especially seen
in the elderly age group (35-S0yrs). There was no difference in the locus of control scores between the users
and the nonusers. The results indicate the role of significant life events in the current use of drugs.
key words: Drug use - epidemiology, locus of control, life events.
INTRODUCTION
Use of mood altering substances has been a
part of any culture. However the recent upsurge of use
of harder drugs is particularly disturbing. Drug use in
India has a long history. From 'somras' to the current
brown sugar', drugs have always been associated with
rereational and non recreational us. Use of locally
brewed alcohol has a subcultural sanction and is taken
by almost everyone on festive occasions. Use of
cannabis in the form of bhang and ganja has its own
rules of use.
Various epidemiologoical surveys have been
conducted in India. The use of alcohol has varied from
2.2% (Dube & Handa 1969) to 74.2% (Deb & Jindal
1974). The former was cnducted around the city of
agra in U.P and the latter in the bhatinda district of
1'unjab. Vanna et. al (1980) found rates of current use
in Punjab to be 45.9% in Jalandhar and 27.7% in
Chandigarh.
Sociocultural influences have been focussed in
studies by Khan (1978) and Khan & Krishna (1981)
and they noted the role of family in relation to the dug
use. Shukla (1979) noted in a community survey in
rural Uttar pradesh that the alcohol users can be
divided into three types based on caste viz, those
castes wich had more users than nonusers, for e.g
chamars. those castes in which the numbers were the
same, for e.g, kayasthas and those in which the
number of nonusers was higher for e.g, brahmins.
The present study focusses on the drug use in
rural Bihar in a village in Chotanagpur plateau located
about 13kms from Ranchi city. An attempt was made
to understand the relationship of current drug use to
certain psychosocial factors viz, the locus of control
and the stressful life events. Studies involving locus of
control in drug use have reported conflicting findings.
There seems to be an internal orientation in remitters
from alcohol use (Huckstadt 1987). Life events
research too has been beset with methodological prob-
lems. Generally it has been noted that the stress rose
dramatically in the one year prior to the onset
(Tottossion, 1983).
AIM
1. To find out the prevalance of drug use
including alcohol, cannabis, opiates and other prescrip-
tion drugs in a rural community of chotanagpur pla-
teau in Hihar and
2. to compare the groups of users and
non users on parameters of stressful life events and
locus of control.
METHODOLOGY
Sample
The study was conducted in the village Boreya
43
JENA ET AL
of Kanke block, Ranchi district of Bihar. Inhabitants
above the age of 15 yrs were included in the study.
The drug user was defined as one who had used drugs
daily in the one month prior to the interview. The
drugs included in the survey were alcohol, cannabis,
tobacco, opium, heroin, tranquilizers (benzodiazepines
& other prescription drugs that were used in excess
amounts or durtion than intended), and any other drugs
if they were reported. A door to door survey was
conducted to indentify the drug user. From the group
of drug users a subsample was recruited for a detailed
assesment. From the population of nonusers a repre-
sentative subsample was recruited for comparison with
the users on the psychological parameters.
There were 1157 individuals in the village above
the age of 15 yrs of which 334 were fulfilling the drug
user's criteria. Of 'hese 334 individuals, 85 consented
for detailed interview using the locus of control scale
and the persumptive stressful life events scale The
rest of users either did not give their consent or were
unavailable for interview. The number of nonusers
who consented for the detailed evaluation using the
above tools were 121. The group of users and
nonusers were similar in their sex distribution (X2
=
0.08, df 1; NS) There were 63 individuals who had
used drugs in their lifetime but not in the last one
month. They were not included in the detailed eval-
uation.
Tools
i. Structured Interview Schedule:
This schedule collected data pertaining to the socio-
demographic variables and the drug use related informa-
tion. It was designed keeping the study in mind so
that it collected information about the above variables
in a short time. The administration of the schedule
took between 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale (Singh
et. al 1983)
This scale was developed by Prof Gurmeet
Singh and coworkers in 1983 and has been used in a
number of studies in India. It has 51 items relating to
the various stressful events in the life of an individual.
It has been seen to have a high reliability across
workers. The administration to the subjects in the
study was done according to the guidelines in the
manual.
3. PGI Locus of Control Scale (Menon et al
1975)
This scale was developed by Menon et al in 1975 in
the department of Psychiatry at the Post gsraduate
Indtitute of Medical education and Research,
Chandigarh. The scale is in Hindi and hence the
administration was easy. The scale has been found to
be reliable and valid measure of the Internal-External
control as a measure of the Locus of control.
Analysis
Chi-square test and t-test were used to com-
pare the groups of users and nonusers on the variable
of locus of control and stressful life events.
RESULTS
The study found the drug use prevalence to be
28.9% for the current users, 5.5.% for the ever users
i.e those individuals who had taken drugs sometimes
in their life but not in the last one month The use of
tobacco was not included in the analysis.
TABLE I :
SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE DLSTRIBl-
TION
Age
15-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
>55
Sex
male
female
Education
<v
VI-XI
XXII
>XII
Marital status
married
single
sep/div/wid
Caste
Sch tribe
Sch caste
backward
others
Users
(n=334)
32
105
74
69
54
279
55
246
53
24
293
16
25
121
53
12
148
Nonusers
(n=760)
302
194
95
84
85
260
500
451
159
107
511
51
56
69
40
25
626
44
DRUG USE IN RURAL BIHAR
The distribution of the socio-demographic var-
iables is shown in Table I. 31.4% of the users were
in the age range of 25 to 34 years whereas 40% of the
users were in the range of 15 to 24 years. Most of
the nonusers were females (65.8%) whereas 83.5%
users were males. All categories were equally repre-
sented across the users and nonusers educationwise,
though there were 73.6% subjects who had read upto
fifth class in the users category. Others i.e castes
other than scheduled tribes/castes or backward castes
were overrepresented in the nonsures. There was no
difference between users and nonusers in terms of
marital status.
The analysis of drug use variable revealed that
in the current users category other than tobacco the
most common drug of use was alcohol in all the 334
users. The commonly used alcohol was locally brewed
handia' (rice beer) or 'mahua' (brewed from mahua
flowers). Indian made foreign liquor was used by only
1.7% (6) of the users of alcohol. Cannabis was a
commonly used drug in 25.15% of the users and the
most common mode of intake was oral in the form of
bhang. Opium was used by only one individual in the
users category.
Of the 334 users 81 were selected for psycho-
logical assesment. 121 nonusers were also included for
comparison. The psychological parameters assesed
were locus of control and life events. The locus of
control assesment did not reveal any significant differ-
ence across the two groups. However the stressful life
events differed significantly (t = 14.4, df 204; p<0.001).
Table II gives the details of the results.
TABLE H:
COMPARISON OF LOCUS OF CONTROL (LOQ & LIFE
EVENTS (LE) IN USERS & NONUSERS.
USERS
(n=85)
mean (SD)
LOC 8.8(2.5)
IE 164.2(41.8)
NONUSERS
(n=121)
mean(SD)
9.4(2.1)
100.7(20.5)
t
1.09
14.4
P
NS
<0.001
users (35-50 yrs) experienced significantly more stress-
ful life events. (Table HI)
TABLE HI:
SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERECE IN LOCUS OF CONTROL
(LOQ & LIFE EVENTS (LE) IN USERS
CATEGORISED ACCORDING TO AGE AND SEX
l t p LX t p
mean(S0) mean(SD)
SB
9.1(25)
8.4(2.5)
0.55 NS
A further analysis of difference in the users life
events and locus of control scores with regards to age
and sex distribution revealed that the older age group
male 172.1(51.1) 1.84 NS
female 155.6(26.6)
20-34 148.9(27.4) 354 <flD01 9.3(2.2) 1.68 NS
35-50 179.1(47.8) 8.35(2.8)
DISCUSSION
This investigation was carried out with the
aim of 1. finding out the prevalance of the drug use
in a rural community of Bihar and 2. to study the
relation of the drug use to some psychosocial factors
viz, life events and the locus of control in the drug
users. The choice of the village was guided by the
fact that it was close from the Institute and the
members of the locality could be easily contacted. It
was considered to be representing the area of
Chotanagpur though the results cannot be generalised
to the state as such.
The results indicate that the overall rate of drug use
was 28.8%. The studies from other parts of the
country consisting of rural population have reported
similar rates. Mohan et al (1981) reported the rate
of 28.1% in rural areas of Punjab. Shulka(1979)
reported that 38.3% of the rural population in Uttar
Pradesh to be habitual users. Thus a similar trend in
drug use is discernible in our sample. It was also
noted that the user was frequently a male from a
lower caste , a younger age group and less educated.
Results on similar lines have been reported by Shukla
(1979). Alcohol was the most commonly used
substance. All the 334 users in (lie current sample
were users of alcohol. Cannabis use also occured
frequently. There was however a very low use of
opium. There was no use of harder drugs like heroin.
The use of alcohol and cannabis can be because of
the fact that they are easily available and there seem
45
JENA ET AL
to be a subcultural sanction especially for alcohol and
also for cannabis in some circles and on some occassions.
In understanding the psychosocial correlates of
the drug use it becomes apparent that the users and
the nonusers do not differon the parameters assesed.
The results regarding psychosocial variables have to be
interpreted cautiously as the subsamples included only
those subjects who gave their consent and hence need
not be representative of the categories. There is
however an increase in stressful life events in the
category of drug users in the year prior to the onset.
This has been noted by other workers especially in the
cases of relapase back to the drug use. We cannot say
however that our sample is in any way comparable to
the other studies because of the differences in the set-
up. Our study is a community based study whereas
the other studies have subjects who have a more
serious problem with drug use. The interpretation is
further confounded by the issue of the cause effect
relationship between the stressful life events and drug
use. The present study made no attepmt to evaluate
the relationship. In the present study there were more
stressful life events in the sibjects belonging to the
older age group in the users category. This could
reflect a higher vulnerability of the older population to
resort to drug use when faced with stressors.
The research in relation to the locus of control in drug
users has shown conflicting results. In our study did
not seem to be any significant relation between the
internal or external orientation and the use of drugs in
the particular community.
In conclusion the present study defines the pattern of
drug use in a particular village with mixed population
in the Chotanagpur area of Bihar. Alcohol appears to
be the most commonly used mood-altering substance
followed by cannabis. Stressful life events appear to
be related to the drug use whereas locus of control
docs not differentiate users from non users.
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Renuka Jena. Ph.D. Research Associate
T.R.ShukIa PhD; D.M. & S.P. Rtd. Head. Dept of Psychology *Hemraj Pal, M.D.
Assistant Professor, dept of Psychiatry All from Central Instrtute of Psychiatry Kanke,
Ranchi.
* Correspondence
46