Heterogeneity in Prescription Opioid Misuse Motives by Age in Adolescents and Young Adults in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Adolescent (12-17 years) and young adult (18-25 years) prescription opioid misuse (POM) is linked to poor health outcomes. We investigated how POM motives vary across these ages and the potential links between motives and other substance use, mental health, and sociodemographic characteristics to help guide screening and prevention.

Methods

Pooled 2015-2019 US National Survey on Drug Use and Health data were used, with 137,858 participants. Cross-tabulations estimated prevalence of individual motives and motive category by age. Mutually exclusive motive categories were no past-year POM, pain relief only, pain/sleep/relax (ie, some combination of only these motives), and any non-self-treatment motives (eg, get high, experiment). Logistic regression models evaluated

SUBMITTER: Schepis TS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12146424 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul-Aug 01

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature