This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (1)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Substance Abuse/ Alcoholism  • Adolescent Medicine  • Alert me on articles by topic

Carol J. Boyd, PhD, MSN, RN; Sean Esteban McCabe, PhD, MSW; James A. Cranford, PhD; Amy Young, PhD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(3):276-281.

Objectives  To determine the prevalence of medical use of 4 classes of prescription medications relative to nonmedical use (illicit use), to examine the relative rates among the 4 drug classes, and to assess whether gender differences exist in the trading, selling, loaning, or giving away of medications.

Design  A Web-based survey was administered to 7th- to 12th-grade students residing in 1 ethnically diverse school district; a 68% response rate was achieved.

Setting  During a 3-week period in May 2005, teachers brought students to their schools' computing center where students took the survey using a unique personal identification number to sign on to the survey.

Participants  There were 1086 secondary students, including 586 girls, 498 boys, 484 black students, and 565 white students.

Main Outcome Measures  Students were asked about their medical and nonmedical use of sleeping, sedative or anxiety, stimulant, and pain medications. Diversion of prescription medication was assessed by determining who asked the student to divert his or her prescription and who received it.

Results  Thirty-six percent of students reported having a recent prescription for 1 of the 4 drug classes. A higher percentage of girls reported giving away their medications than boys (27.5% vs 17.4%, respectively; ²₁ = 6.7; P = .01); girls were significantly more likely than boys to divert to female friends (64.0% vs 21.2%, respectively; ²₁ = 17.5; P<.001) whereas boys were more likely than girls to divert to male friends (45.5% vs 25.6%, respectively; ²₁ = 4.4; P = .04). Ten percent diverted their drugs to parents.

Conclusion  Physicians should discuss the proper use of prescription medications with their patients and their patients' families.

Author Affiliations: Institute for Research on Women and Gender (Drs Boyd and Young) and Substance Abuse Research Center (Drs McCabe and Cranford), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Beyond Abuse and Exposure: Framing the Impact of Prescription-Medication Sharing
Goldsworthy et al.
Am. J. Public Health 2008;98:1115-1121.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Diverting Drugs: Teens and Misuse of Psychoactive Prescription Drugs
JWatch Psychiatry 2007;2007:1-1.
FULL TEXT