This proposal requests four years of support (12/01/2014-11/30/2018) to conduct secondary analyses of data from two national studies to gain an understanding of the natural history and risk factors for non-medical prescription drug use (NMPDU) (stimulants, sedatives, tranquilizers, pain relievers) in different groups in the US population.
Four aims will be pursued. (1) To determine the position of NMPDU in the developmental sequence of drug involvement and, in particular, the role of Gateway drugs, nicotine, alcohol and marijuana, in the progression to NMPDU and compare adolescents and adults (NSDUH). (2) (a) To specify the association between parent and child on NMPDU, (b) to compare the association between parent and child on NMPDU with the association on three other drug classes: cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, (c) to identify the role of neighborhood factors on the association between parent and child on NMPDU (NSDUH). (3) To specify the extent of genetic liability for NMPDU in the context of different neighborhoods (Add Health). (4) To compare males vs. females and three racial/ethnic groups in Aims (1) - (3). Analyses will be conducted in two national data sets: (1) multiple surveys of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the annual nationally representative survey of drug use in the general US population aged 12 and older. The total samples as well as subsamples of matched parent-child pairs will be analyzed. (2) National samples of twins, full sibling, half-sibling pairs, and cousin in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a four-wave longitudinal study of former 7th-12th graders. The effects of neighborhood characteristics, including census-based indicators of neighborhood disadvantage and substate region rates of NMPDU, will also be considered. The analysis of the position of NMPDU in the developmental sequence of drug involvement, the analysis of a national sample of parent-child dyads, the assessment of genetic liability and the impact of neighborhood characteristics on NMPDU represent particularly unique and novel aspects of the proposed research. This program of epidemiological research addresses a crucial public health problem in the nation and, by providing a multifaceted understanding of NMPDU, will inform the development and implementation of prevention and intervention efforts designed to reduce NMPDU, and suggest hypotheses to be tested in animal models.
Non-medical prescription drug use (NMPDU) is a serious public health problem in the nation. The present study will identify the developmental course of NMPDU and selected risk factors, in particular those related to the family and neighborhood, in addition to individual factors. Understanding the developmental sequence of involvement in legal, illegal, and prescription drugs, documenting the use of these drugs within the family and neighborhood contexts, and identifying genetic liability for NMPDU has important public health implications that will inform prevention and intervention efforts at the individual and family leves within different communities aimed at reducing NMPDU.
| Wall, Melanie; Cheslack-Postava, Keely; Hu, Mei-Chen et al. (2018) Nonmedical prescription opioids and pathways of drug involvement in the US: Generational differences. Drug Alcohol Depend 182:103-111 |
| Kandel, Denise B; Hu, Mei-Chen; Griesler, Pamela et al. (2017) Increases from 2002 to 2015 in prescription opioid overdose deaths in combination with other substances. Drug Alcohol Depend 178:501-511 |
| Hu, Mei-Chen; Griesler, Pamela; Wall, Melanie et al. (2017) Age-related patterns in nonmedical prescription opioid use and disorder in the US population at ages 12-34 from 2002 to 2014. Drug Alcohol Depend 177:237-243 |
