CONTEXT: The use and misuse of substances among children and adolescents is, and continues to be, a significant area of interest and concern. While some explain substance use in adolescence as a ‘normative behaviour’, others explain this behaviour as a predictor of later substance misuse problems. The aim of the current study is to describe the prevalence of the use of substances amongst adolescents from varying socio-economic backgrounds, to compare use in adolescence to the individuals substance use as an adult, and to explore if prevalence, high frequency, and high quantity of substance use correlate with low self-esteem levels. METHODS: A quantitative survey design was used. Stratified random sampling was used in each of the three institutions. A cross-sectional and correlational design was conducted. Data was collected from 51 female and 51 male students aged 18 to 47 from three educational institutions; private college, FAS training, and PLC college. RESULTS: There was a significant difference of age at first smoking a cigarette for private college participants and FAS participants; t (23.7) = 3.22. p = .004 (2 tailed), however, there was no significant difference between private college participants and PLC participants. There was a correlation between the young age of cigarette smoking onset and a high amount of cigarettes smoked in previous 35 days of measurement; r = -.33, n = 44, p<.0005. The relationship was not significant between participants cannabis use in adolescence and their use in adulthood. 20 out of the 39 participants who experimented with ecstasy in adolescence had used ecstasy and /or head shop substances in the previous thirty-five days of measurement. 7 participants scored low self-esteem on the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, all of which recently used illicit substances. CONCLUSION: Initiating substance use does not occur solely on one’s socio-economic background; an extremely complex reason lies with each individual. It is ultimately down to choice. However, initiating substance use in adolescence increases the likelihood that one will continue to use in adulthood. Substance use is not necessarily negative in terms of one’s self-esteem. Substance use can be pleasurable, a term which is quite often forgotten when concentrating on statistics.

This study revisits the behavioural aspect of management accounting control (MAC) that has remained mostly unexplored over the last four decades. In particular, this study investigates; how managers and supervisors use accounting technologies and other management control mechanisms (MCMs) to intentionally or unintention- ally bully the shop floor workers of selected privately owned RMG factories located in a high-power distance emerging economy. Drawing on Max Weber’s ‘social stratification’ (i.e. class, status and party), this study has revealed that to maximise organisations’ profit and secure their personal gains, managers and supervisors frequently use accounting technologies and other MCMs to deliberately (most of the cases) bully the subordinate workers. In so doing, managers and supervisors justified their bullying behaviours through workers’ class situation, educational credential, geographic location and gender. Owners of the selected factories, on the other hand, legitimised MAC based- managerial bullying (MB) through their economic resources and social status. In fact, by involving in state politics and obtaining legislative power, they also influenced government policies (e.g. labour laws and national minimum wage) to reduce the collective bargaining of workers in a particular sector of the economy. Nevertheless, owners also patronise insiders (e.g. supervisors and managers) and outsiders (e.g. members of political parties, state police, government employees, and bureaucrats) to bully the workers institutionally through intimidation, harassment, and violence. This study, therefore, argues that there is a strong connection between MAC and MB that might succeed through the existence of social stratification and political patronage in a particular sector of a high-power distance emerging economy.