title: Motivations for Prescription Drug Misuse among Young Adults: Considering Social and Developmental Contexts.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  As part of a larger study on prescription drug misuse among young adults active in urban nightlife scenes, we examined participants' motivations for misuse. Prescription painkillers, stimulants and sedatives were the primary substances of interest.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were recruited from nightlife venues in New York using time-space sampling. Subjects completed a mixed-methods assessment at project research offices. The data presented here are from a subsample of 70 qualitative interviews conducted during the baseline assessment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified experimentation and a "work hard, play hard" ethos as key motivations for misusing prescription drugs and argue that these motivations are specific, though not necessarily unique, to the participants' social location as young adults. These findings highlight the role of life stage and social context in the misuse of prescription drugs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Future studies of prescription drug misuse should pay attention to the larger social contexts in which users are embedded and, therefore, make decisions about how and why to misuse. Moving beyond the very broad concepts of "recreation" and "self-medication" presently established in the research, policies targeting young adults may want to tailor intervention efforts based on motivations.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health, Health Care Policy & Aging Research, Rutgers University.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: LeClair
authors.affiliation: Purdue University ; Center for HIV Educational Studies & Training, CUNY.
authors.forename: Brian C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: Center for HIV Educational Studies & Training, CUNY ; Graduate Center, CUNY.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pawson
authors.affiliation: Center for HIV Educational Studies & Training, CUNY ; Hunter College, CUNY.
authors.forename: Brooke E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.affiliation: Center for HIV Educational Studies & Training, CUNY ; Hunter College, CUNY ; Graduate Center, CUNY.
authors.forename: Jeffrey T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Parsons
keywords: experience; motivations; prescription drug misuse; young adults