Department of Psychology

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Browsing Department of Psychology by Author "Allie, Abdul Ganie"

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    Die invloed van gereelde daggagebruik op die skoolprestasies en intellektuele vermoe van 'n groep leerlinge in 'n nywerheidskool
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1990) Allie, Abdul Ganie; Brand, H. J.; Hanekom, J. D. M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The present research attempted to determine the effect of regular dagga usage on school performance and intellectual ability of a group or adolescent boys. The research sample comprised of eighty subjects of which forty were smokers and forty non-smokers in a residential industrial school. Most of the pupils resided in the Cape Peninsula, but some came from other parts of the Cape Province. the Transvaal, Natal and the Orange Free State. Their ages varied between 13 years and 18 years. Only standards 6 and 7 pupils participated in the present research. All subjects were Afrikaans-speaking Coloured boys. The selection criterion applicable in identifying pupils as smokers were as follows: all pupils who smoked dagga two times a week or more within the school context were regarded as being regular daggasmokers. The non-smokers were all those pupils who did not smoke dagga within the school context. The experimental and control groups were paired according to their intellectual ability. Measures of the intellectual ability were obtained by means of the NB-Group Test (Intermediate series). School achievement results in Afrikaans, English and Mathematics were derived by means of the H.S.R.C.'s (Human Science Research Council) school achievement tests, whilst the Science marks for both standards were obtained from the final examination results. To differentiate between smokers and non-smokers, a self-compiled biographical questionnaire, which was specifically compiled for the present research, was used. Related studies pertaining to the present research has been done in South Africa, whilst in other countries numerous similar studies have already been conducted, albeit in normal schools, colleges and universities. The present research made use of the Bravais-Pearson Correlation method, t-tests and Chisquare as statistical procedures to determine whether dagga-usage affected school achievement. However, the present research did not provide conclusive evidence for possible negative effects of daggasmoking on school performance. No significant differences were found between the academic performance of smokers and nonsmokers. In both groups statistically significant correlations were found between academic performance and intellectual ability. Regarding the self-compiled biographical questionnaire on dagga, statistically significant differences among the smokers group were found on all the questions, with the exception of questions 5 and 18. Furthermore, it was found that a great deal of ignorance still exists concerning dagga. This emphasizes the need for a broadly based educational programme to inform both parents and children about the potential damages of dagga usage.