Self-Management as a Protective Factor Against Substance Use Behaviour Among Secondary School Students in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Uasin Gishu County has one of the highest rates of adolescent substance use in Kenya, with a lifetime prevalence of 28.4% among secondary school students against a national average of 23.4%. This paper reports the second objective of a broader study on emotional intelligence and substance use, examining the relationship between self-management, the ability to regulate emotions, control impulses, and stay focused on long-term goals, and substance use behaviour among secondary school students in the county. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design, anchored in the pragmatism paradigm and guided by Goleman's Emotional Intelligence Theory, was used. Quantitative data came from 370 Form Three students (of 377 sampled through multi-stage stratified and proportionate random sampling across 23 schools; a 98.1% response rate), using a validated 12-item self-management scale (α = .90) and a 12-item substance use behaviour scale (α = .90). Qualitative data came from six focus group discussions (44 students) and 46 semi-structured interviews with class teachers and guidance counsellors, analysed thematically in NVivo 14. Students reported moderate-to-high self-management (M ≈ 3.32, SD ≈ 1.26). Pearson correlation showed a significant negative relationship between self-management and substance use behaviour (r = -.355, p < .001), and self-management remained the second-strongest of four emotional-intelligence predictors, after self-awareness, once age, gender, school category and family type were controlled (β = -.370, p < .001). Qualitative accounts described concrete regulatory strategies—paced breathing, a "three-second rule", and reflective "reaction journals"—that helped students interrupt impulsive responses, but also showed these strategies losing force where home environments normalised substance use or where institutional rules were quietly circumvented. The null hypothesis was rejected. Self-management is a strong, teachable protective factor, and Kenyan secondary schools should treat impulse-regulation training as a core, not supplementary, part of substance use prevention.