Citation

Allen HK, Caldeira KM, Bugbee BA, Vincent KB, O'Grady KE, Arria AM. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2017; 174: 150-157.

Affiliation

Center on Young Adult Health and Development, University of Maryland School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral and Community Health, 2387 School of Public Health Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: aarria@umd.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.01.025

PMID

28329719

Abstract

BACKGROUND: College students perceive widespread availability of drugs and prescription medications for non-medical use on campus, but less is known about the relationship between opportunity to use, use, and use given opportunity of these drugs during and after college. The current study describes annual trends in (1) opportunity to use, (2) use, and (3) use given opportunity of eight drugs and three prescription medications used non-medically over seven years.

METHODS: Data were derived from a longitudinal cohort study of 1253 first-year college students (52% female, 72% non-Hispanic white) at one large, public university. Annually, past-year opportunity to use and use were assessed for marijuana, hallucinogens, inhalants, cocaine, ecstasy, amphetamines, methamphetamine, heroin, and non-medical use of prescription stimulants, analgesics, and tranquilizers. Binary variables were created to represent opportunity to use, use, and use given opportunity for each drug.

RESULTS: Participants had the greatest opportunity to use marijuana compared with other drugs during the study period, but there was a significant decline in the opportunity to use marijuana over time. Notably, opportunity for both drugs other than marijuana and prescription medications used non-medically consistently declined, while use given opportunity remained relatively stable over time.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that changes in drug use are driven by changes in opportunity to use, even during the post-college years. Greater opportunity to use and use of all drugs during the college years in comparison with the post-college years confirms the high-risk nature of the college environment.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

College students; Drug use; Longitudinal studies; Opportunity to use; Substance use