Prescription Drug Misuse and Gender

Abstract

In recent years, prescription drug misuse has become a serious public health issue. A number of studies in this area have identified females to be at an increased risk for prescription drug misuse during adolescence. Guided by Agnew's general strain theory, the current research examined the relationship between prescription drug misuse and gender during adolescence. We used data from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a sample representative of the non-institutionalized population of the United States. Logistic regression models were estimated to examine the relationship between gender, prescription drug misuse, strain, and depression. The findings indicated that females were at an increased for prescription drug misuse. We also found support for general strain theory, as strain and depression were significantly related to prescription drug misuse. In addition, we found evidence that strain was gendered in that elements of general strain theory accounted for the relationship between prescription drug misuse and gender.

Keywords :

• gender
• prescription drug misuse
• general strain theory
• depression

THE AUTHORS

Jason A. Ford, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Central Florida. His current research interests include substance use among adolescents and young adults and also the factors related to stability and change in crime and deviance over the life course.

Amy Reckdenwald, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida's Department of Sociology. Her current research interests are in the areas of violence, particularly as it relates to domestic violence, sexual violence, homicide-suicides, and intimate partner homicides, as well as race and gender issues in victimization and offending. Her work has appeared in journals, such as Criminology, Journal of Criminal Justice, Feminist Criminology, Violence and Victims, and Homicide Studies.

Briana Marquardt, M.A., is a graduate of the University of Central Florida. While there, she earned a B.S. in psychology and an M.A. in sociology. Her current research interests include substance use and abuse, recidivism, juvenile delinquency, and other topics within criminology. She seeks to look at role the media may play in certain crimes, as well as the way crime is portrayed in the media. Briana is also interested in the role of gender in crime, and explanations for the trends and differences which occur.