Predicting adolescents' persistence, non-persistence, and recent onset of nonmedical use of opioids and stimulants

Abstract

This study sought to distinguish among adolescents who were persistent, non-persistent, or recent onset nonmedical users of prescription opioids and stimulants (respondents’ ages ranged from 12–17 years, N = 126,764). Multinomial logistic regression analyses of combined data from the 2003 through 2009 National Survey of Drug Use and Health were used to investigate the association of respondents’ sex, age, family income, race, parental status, population density, and user status (persistent, non-persistent, recent onset) on common illicit substances (cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and inhalants) with opioid and stimulant use. Odds of nonmedical opioid and stimulant use were significantly greater for females than males, and increased with age. Results were mixed for income, race, and parental status. Population density was largely unrelated to nonmedical use. Persistent nonmedical users of common illicit substances, especially marijuana and inhalants, were at greatest risk for nonmedical opioid and stimulant use. Non-persistent use of common illicit substances was a strong predictor of both non-persistent opioid and stimulant use. Recent onset of common substance use predicted recent onset of prescription opioid and stimulant use. Results indicate that persistence may be related to polysubstance use involving prescription opioids and stimulants, supporting efforts to investigate the underlying causes of polysubstance use.

Prescription Drug Misuse and Sexual Behavior Among Young Adults

“…It is unclear if young adults are having sex under the influence of only prescription drugs or if they are combining prescription drugs with alcohol or other illicit drugs. The combination of prescription drugs with alcohol, illicit drugs, and other prescription drugs is common among young adults (Kelly, Wells, Pawson, LeClair, & Parsons, in press; McCabe, Cranford, Morales, & Young, 2006; McCabe, West, Teter, & Boyd, 2012; Nakawaki & Crano, 2012) for a variety of reasons, including to ‘come down’ from stimulants (methamphetamine, cocaine, and MDMA; Boeri, Sterk, Bahora, & Elifson, 2008) or to enhance the effects of alcohol, illicit drugs, or other prescription drugs (Boeri, Sterk, Bahora, & Elifson, 2008; Jones, Mogali, & Comer, 2012; Quintero, 2009; Zacny & Gutierrez, 2011). Further, research indicates that prescription drug and illicit substance use disorders often co-occur (Blanco et al, 2007; McCabe, Cranford, & West, 2008), further indicating that these combinations of drugs are worthy of additional examination.…”

The role of first use of inhalants within sequencing pattern of first use of drugs among Brazilian university students.

“…These results highlight the need to intervene early with youths who are at risk of or just beginning to engage in inhalant use, given that low-frequency inhalant users report predominately hedonic experiences during inhalant intoxication that are not aversive (Garland & Howard, 2010). Even non-persistent use of inhalants is associated with a greater risk for nonmedical opioid and stimulant use and is a strong predictor of non-persistent opioid and stimulant use (Nakawaki & Crano, 2012). …”

Marijuana and Other Substance Use Among Motor Vehicle Operators: A Latent Class Analysis

“…However, an extensive body of research has discussed the propensity of those using marijuana to use other substances as well (Bonn-Miller & Zvolensky, 2009;Nakawaki & Crano, 2012;Olthuis et al, 2013;Scherer et al, 2013b). This phenomenon has been studied in terms of marijuana and the concurrent use of other substances such as alcohol (Blows et al, 2005;Penning et al, 2010;Scherer et al, 2013b), cocaine (Higgins et al, 2007;Lindsay et al, 2009;Scherer et al, 2013a), and opioids (Subramaniam et al, 2010), which could potentially compound detrimental effects (Midanik et al, 2007).…”