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Adolescents' nonmedical use of prescription medications and other problem behaviors
Carol J Boyd1, Amy Young, Melissa Grey
1Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. caroboyd@umich.edu
Purpose:
This study examines adolescent nonmedical use of prescription medications (NUPM) and its relationship to other problem behaviors.
Methods:
A secondary analysis was conducted with data gathered from 912 adolescents in 2007. Four mutually exclusive groups were created from the data. Adolescents who: 1) did not use controlled prescription medications (nonusers); 2) used their own controlled medications as prescribed (medical-users); 3) engaged in nonmedical use for self-treatment motivations (self-treaters), and 4) engaged in nonmedical use for sensation-seeking motivations (sensation-seekers). These four groups were compared on problem behaviors as well as depression and impulsivity.
Results:
Approximately 10.9% of the sample engaged in NUPM and 36.8% had a legal prescription for a controlled medication. Sensation-seekers were more likely to engage in most problem behaviors when compared with all other groups; impulsivity and depression was variable among groups.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest there are different subtypes of nonmedical users of prescription medications.
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