Agensi antidadah kebangsaan kementerian dalam negeri

PROCEDURE
The procedure involved several parties such as the school authorities, the
National Anti-Drug Agency, and the PPDa Unit. Firstly, the PPDa Unit
officers informed the school administration regarding the specific details
of the date and time to carry out the urine test. The urine test was carried
out randomly. The urine test was administered to both male and female
students of various ethnicity, different educational levels and student
bodies (such as prefects and librarians). The students were tested randomly
with the help of the National Anti-Drug Agency. If the results were positive,
the PPDa Unit officers informed the school principals to collect detailed
information of the convicted students by using the Borang Biodata Pelajar
Ujian Urin Positif.
Once comprehensive information of the students was
obtained, the school counselors conducted counseling sessions to help
those students to rehabilitate. On the other hand, by using a special
logbook, the PPDa Unit officers act as supervisors to monitor the counseling
sessions. Up to this stage, the main task of the PPDa Unit was to
continuously design several appropriate rehabilitative and preventive
programs to speed up the rehabilitation process of the students who tested
positive for drugs. The researcher's main task, on the other hand, was to

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Demographic Determinants of Drug Abuse Problem
Among Secondary School Students in an Urban Area
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Rafidah Aga Mohd Jaladin , m/s 155-172
examine every single completed form collected by the PPDa Unit officers
(with the permission of the PPDa Unit) and to carry out data analysis on
these records.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Generally, the results showed mixed findings. The main predictors for
drug abuse were found to be the gender and age factors but the other
predictor variables were inconclusive.
Gender
Based on the examination of records, it was found that all drug abuse
offenders were male students. This finding is consistent with Jenkins's
(1995) and Riley's (1987) findings, which suggest that males are more
prone to commit drug abuse crime than females. It was argued that the
gender differences in personality development could be the explanation
for this finding (Papalia & Olds, 1998). Popular belief holds that boys
and girls develop differently; that girls mature earlier and are more
empathic, and that boys are more aggressive. But in 80 years of research
about development, this belief has rarely been investigated scientifically.
Now, a statistical analysis of 65 studies of personality growth involving
9000 participants has found that adolescent girls apparently do mature
earlier in some ways than boys (Cohn, 1991). Thus, this concludes that
adolescent males are in the high-risk group for drug abuse.
Age
Based on the records, it was found that there were three age groups among
the drug abuse offenders: 15 year olds (25.58%), 16 year olds (39.53%), and
17 year olds (34.88%). The mean age for them was 16.09 years old. This
finding does not support the hypothesis, which predicts that older
adolescents commit drug abuse more than the younger ones. The
explanation for this finding could be the education system in Malaysia. In
Malaysia, there are two major achievement examinations for secondary
students: the Penilaian Menengah Rendah or PMR for Form Three students
(aged 15 years old) and the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia or SPM for Form Five
students (aged 17 years old). These two examinations are important for
students' academic placement and achievement. Thus, school authorities
place special attention in monitoring the academics and discipline of these
two age-groups. However, the Form Four students (aged 16 years old) are
more relaxed because theirs is considered as the "honeymoon year". This

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JURNAL ANTIDADAH MALAYSIA
JURNAL ANTIDADAH MALAYSIA
166
Rafidah Aga Mohd Jaladin , m/s 155-172
indicates that the Form Four students get less attention from the school
authorities as well as parents. Due to this, they spend more time with
their peers and get easily influenced by them.