title: Developmental course of non-medical use of prescription drugs from adolescence to adulthood in the United States: national longitudinal data.
abstract: To identify the developmental course of non-medical use of four separate prescription drug classes (opioids, sedatives, stimulants and tranquilizers) by examining the general functional growth and related covariates during the transition from adolescence to adulthood in the United States.
  
  
  
  Nationally representative probability samples of high school seniors were followed longitudinally across five waves (waves 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5: modal ages 18, 19/20, 21/22, 23/24 and 25/26 years, respectively).
  
  
  
  Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires to high school seniors and young adults in the United States.
  
  
  
  The sample consisted of nearly 72 000 individuals in 30 cohorts (high school senior years of 1977-2006) who participated in at least one wave.
  
  
  
  Self-reports of annual non-medical use of prescription opioids, sedatives, stimulants, and tranquilizers.
  
  
  
  The annual non-medical use of prescription opioids, sedatives, stimulants and tranquilizers was highest at wave 1 over the five waves. There was a consistent descending path (linear and quadratic slopes, P < 0.001) in annual non-medical use from baseline across all four prescription drug classes (e.g. opioids linear slope = -0.043 and opioids quadratic slope = 0.034, P < 0.001). While the annual non-medical use of stimulants declined over time (linear slope = 0.063, P < 0.01; quadratic slope = -0.133, P < 0.001), the same decrease was not observed for the annual non-medical use of prescription opioids, sedatives or tranquilizers when controlling for socio-demographic and substance use behaviors at baseline. The covariates associated with the general functional growth differed across the four prescription drug classes.
  
  
  
  The non-medical use of prescription opioids, sedatives, stimulants and tranquilizers appears to peak during late adolescence, suggesting preventive intervention efforts should be initiated in early adolescence. The developmental course of non-medical use is not the same among all four classes of prescription drugs, suggesting that each drug class warrants individual research.
authors.affiliation: Substance Abuse Research Center and Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Sean Esteban
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: McCabe
authors.affiliation: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Deborah D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Kloska
authors.affiliation: Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Veliz
authors.affiliation: T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jager
authors.affiliation: Institute for Social Research and Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Schulenberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D063487:Prescription Drug Misuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D057566:Self Report; D014149:Tranquilizing Agents; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D014149:Tranquilizing Agents
keywords: Adolescence; longitudinal; non-medical use; prescription drugs; prescription opioids; prescription sedatives; prescription stimulants; young adulthood