Binu G
Assistant Professor
CHRIST COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT, MALUR, KARNATAKA · IN
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Drug abuse among college students has emerged as a critical public health and social concern in India, with young adults being particularly vulnerable to substance experimentation due to peer influence, academic stress, and easy availability of psychoactive substances. This study examines the level of awareness regarding drug abuse among college students in Erode District of Tamil Nadu, and investigates the association between selected socio-demographic characteristics and students' awareness levels. A descriptive research design was adopted, and primary data were collected from 600 college students selected through a stratified random sampling technique from engineering, arts and science, medical, pharmacy, polytechnic, and teacher-education colleges across the district using a structured questionnaire. The collected data were analysed using percentage analysis, the Chi-Square test of independence, and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results reveal that 92.0 per cent of respondents were aware of drug abuse in general, with social media (73.0%) and school/college awareness programmes (67.0%) emerging as the leading sources of information. The Chi-Square analysis indicates that awareness levels are significantly associated with age, stream of study, year of study, place of residence, living condition, family income, type of family, parental occupation, and parental education, whereas gender and family size showed no significant association. The One-Way ANOVA results corroborate these findings for awareness on causes and effects of drug abuse. The study concludes that socio-economic and academic background variables play a decisive role in shaping students' awareness, and recommends stream-specific and rurally targeted awareness interventions, strengthened family and college-based counselling, and greater regulation of social media content to enhance preventive awareness among college students