A Sociological Study on Addictions among Adolescents in Pre-University Colleges

Youth are the strength of a nation. They are productive population of any society.  Education, employment opportunities and scope for their overall development can evolve them to be productive population of our country. But the youth in the recent days are falling prey to various addictions thereby causing a setback to their overall development and progress. Deviance of any kind is not tolerated by society and any institutions. Youth generally are prone to various forms of addictions such as smoking, consuming alcohol, drugs and mobile addictions. Most of the deviant acts such as murder, theft, kidnapping, various forms of abuses in society are performed under the influence of addictions. The study focusses on the various addictions among adolescents in the Pre-university colleges in India. Objectives- 1. To examine the various types of addictions that are associated with the students in the Pre-university colleges. 2.To examine the involvement of mobile or gadget addiction among the students. Sample – Sample consisted of 300 students selected from 30 Pre-university colleges of Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. The age group of the sample was 16 to 18 years, the adolescents. Structured questionnaire was the adopted tool to collect primary data from the sample. Results- 91% of the sample were into one or the other form of addictions, out of which only 9% of them have reported that they were not into any form of addictions. 39% of the sample were addicted to watching porn and adult movies. 27% were addicted to smoking, 21% were addicted to alcohol consumption and 13% were addicted to drugs. Out of the above-mentioned addictions, the students were more addicted to watching porn and adult movies. 75% of the sample were addicted to gadgets and video games Conclusion: Among various forms of additions that are seen in the adolescents, there is a higher level of addiction to gadgets and games played using internet among the Pre-university students of Dakshina Kannada district. There is relatively a higher level of addiction in watching porn and adult movies on the internet, followed by smoking and alcohol consumption. In the sample very few of the students have been reported who are not addicted to any form of addictions.