title: Time-use patterns and the recreational use of prescription medications among rural and small town youth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the relationship between rural and small town adolescents' time-use and an increased risk for recreational use of prescription drugs in rural settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Rural students in grades 9 and 10 (n = 2,393) were asked about past-year recreational use of prescription medications and their time-use in structured and unstructured activity contexts in the 2009/2010 Cycle of the Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. Time-use patterns of rural and small town youth from across Canada were examined using multilevel, multivariate Poisson regression analyses to determine whether they may impact the risk of this kind of substance use.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Peer time outside school hours and nonparticipation in extracurricular activities were significantly associated with rural youths' recreational use of prescription drugs. Peer drug use, unhappy home lives and frequent binge drinking explained most of these associations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Structured and unstructured activity contexts within rural settings play a role in the nonmedical use of prescription medications. Results support interventions aimed at increasing structured time-use opportunities in addition to focusing on peer contexts and multiple risk-taking behaviors among rural youth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pulver
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Davison
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pickett
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D063425:Binge Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D002170:Canada; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D063487:Prescription Drug Misuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011998:Recreation; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: drug abuse; epidemiology; health disparities; health promotion; social determinants of health