These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed


  • Title: Medical and nonmedical use of prescription drugs among secondary school students.
    Author: McCabe SE, Boyd CJ, Young A.
    Journal: J Adolesc Health; 2007 Jan; 40(1):76-83. PubMed ID: 17185209.
    Abstract:
    PURPOSE: The main objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of medical and nonmedical use of four categories of prescription drugs (opioid, stimulant, sleeping, and sedative/anxiety medication) in a racially diverse sample of secondary public school students in the Detroit metropolitan area. A secondary objective was to examine the association between the use of four categories of prescription medications and illicit drug use and probable drug abuse. METHODS: In 2005, a Web-based survey was self-administered by 1086 secondary school students in grades seven through 12. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 54% female, 52% White, 45% African American, and 3% from other racial categories. Forty-eight percent of the sample reported no lifetime use of four categories of prescription drugs (nonusers), 31.5% reported medically prescribed use only (medical users), 17.5% reported both medical and nonmedical use (medical/nonmedical users) and 3.3% reported nonmedical use only (nonmedical users). Multivariate analyses indicated that medical/nonmedical users and nonmedical users were significantly more likely than nonusers to report illicit drug use and probable drug abuse. Medical users generally reported similar or increased odds of illicit drug use and probable drug abuse than non-users. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence that nonmedical use of prescription drugs represents a problem behavior among secondary school students.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]