The Protective Effect Of Positive Youth Development(the5C’s) In Decreasing Drug Use Among The Youths In Papua New Guinea

Drug consumption among the youth population is one of the major problems around the world today. According to World Drug Report (2013); at the global level, there has been an increase in the production and misuse of new psychoactive substances, that is, substances that are not under international control which include cannabis. Frighteningly, according to a CBC News report (July9th2007) and United Nation World Drug Report (2008), Papua New Guinea has one of the highest drug prevalence rates in the world specifically in cannabis. The prevalence and consumption of cannabis in Papua New Guinea has a lot of spillover effects which very much affect youths specifically aged between12to25, the community, and the nation as a whole.Therefore this study was based on the concept that Positive Youth Development composed of5c’s i.e. competence, confidence, connection, caring and character can help mitigate this problem. It was believed that Positive Youth Development and risky behaviours such as drug consumption were inversely related. Therefore this research tries to provide evidence to prove the concept that the5C’s and risky behaviours were inversely related. In doing so, it, proof that developing youths positively using the5C’s will reduce Papua New Guinea’s problem of drug consumption and its related effects. All the research was based on this concept that drug usage and development and possession of5C’s are inversely related.Total samples of105participants in the study were randomly but clustery selected from7Grade11class of a National High School in Papua New Guinea. The main instruments used in the study were the two questionnaires (5C evaluation form and Frequency of Drug Use Questionnaire). Further interviews was done following up on the two questionnaires.Findings from the quantitative and qualitative information gathered from the two questionnaires and the follow up interviews confirmed the significant negative relationship that exists between the5C’s and the risky behaviours, in the context of this study, cannabis usage. The findings confirm that adolescents that posses a high level of the5C’s are most likely to avoid drugs.Moreover, the most important C’s discovered in the research which were very significant to adolescents were Confidence, Character and competence. These C’s had a very strong significant relationship with the usage of cannabis. This means the adolescents that have high level of these3C’s were most likely to avoid drugs. Therefore, based on this findings, it is recommended that Institutions, parents, and the society must developed these C’s in the adolescents inorder to reduce drug usage in Papua New Guinea. This can be achieving through the use of afterschool programs or by conducting more researches into the5C’s of Positive Youth Development purposefully to discover most economical and effective ways of developing these5C’s.