title: Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use Among College Students With Trauma Exposure.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Nonmedical prescription drug use, defined as using the drug without a prescription or in ways for which it is not prescribed, and traumatic event exposure are highly prevalent among college students. Despite evidence that posttraumatic stress symptoms could place college students at risk for nonmedical prescription drug problems, no studies have examined this relationship. This study was a preliminary examination of posttraumatic stress symptoms, lifetime nonmedical prescription drug use, hazardous use, and dependence symptoms among college students with trauma exposure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were students attending a rural college in Virginia, recruited through psychology classes, flyers, LISTSERVs, and announcements at student events. All students who reported experiencing at least one traumatic event were included (N = 119); participants' mean age was 19.7 years (SD = 1.90), about half were women (n = 63, 53%), and most were Caucasian (n = 103, 87%).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nearly 60% of participants (n = 71) reported using nonmedical prescription drugs at least once during their lifetime and were more likely than those with no use to report hazardous alcohol use (p < .01) and depressive symptoms (p < .05). There were no other significant differences between those who did and did not report use of nonmedical prescription drugs. Regression analyses showed that posttraumatic stress symptom frequency was positively associated with hazardous nonmedical prescription drug use, after controlling for gender, depressive symptoms, and hazardous alcohol use (p < .001). Posttraumatic stress symptom frequency was higher for those with any nonmedical prescription drug dependence symptoms (p < .001), but was unrelated to whether the student had ever engaged in nonmedical prescription drug use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest that consideration of the types of behaviors and problems a college student is experiencing related to nonmedical prescription drug use may be more relevant to posttraumatic stress symptom frequency than dichotomous measures of nonmedical prescription drug use alone. Further, the association between the frequency of posttraumatic stress symptoms and both hazardous nonmedical prescription drug use and dependence symptoms among college students with a trauma history deserves further investigation due to the resulting vulnerability to increasingly negative outcomes.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological Science , University of Arkansas , Fayetteville , Arkansas , USA.
authors.forename: Lindsay S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Ham
authors.affiliation: b School of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas , Fayetteville , Arkansas , USA.
authors.forename: Jacquelyn D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wiersma-Mosley
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological Science , University of Arkansas , Fayetteville , Arkansas , USA.
authors.forename: Matthew T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Feldner
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological Science , University of Arkansas , Fayetteville , Arkansas , USA.
authors.forename: Alexander J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Melkonian
authors.affiliation: c Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center , Cleveland , Ohio , USA.
authors.forename: Lauren A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Milner
authors.affiliation: d Center for Research, Assessment and Treatment Efficacy , Asheville , North Carolina , USA.
authors.forename: Sarah F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D055553:Prescription Drugs; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D000067073:Psychological Trauma / Q000150:complications*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D014495:Universities; D014768:Virginia; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs
keywords: Nonmedical prescription drug use; college students; posttraumatic stress; substance abuse; trauma