Sports participation and drug use among young people in Mauritius

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between drug use and sports participation among young people (14–25 years old) living in Mauritius. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from a stratified sample of young people residing in Mauritius. According to the results, the strongest predictor of reporting drug use was age, recording an odds ratio of 2.50 and showing a positive effect. Drug usage was a negative predictor, meaning that the more use of drug, the less sport activity. In addition, gender predicted the respondents’ sports activity. This article concludes that sports can protect young people in Mauritius from getting into drug use, and policy-makers should focus more attention in tackling the gender disparities in sports participation.

Keywords

• Adolescence
• youth
• drugs
• sports
• gender
• Mauritius