Sex differences in peer and parental risk factors for non-medical use of prescription opioids in youth

ABSTRACT

Background: Prescription opioid non-medical use (NMU) and its associated consequences have been of concern in the US in recent years.

Objective: We examined peer influence and parental guidance, in addition to peer and parental sources of alcohol, on patterns of prescription opioid use, including NMU, among males and females separately. We hypothesized that peer influence and parental guidance would have a differential influence for males and females.

Methods: The National Monitoring of Adolescent Prescription Stimulants Study (N-MAPSS) recruited youth 10–18 years from 10 US cities between 2008 and 2011 (n = 11,048). The cross-sectional survey included questions on past 30-day prescription opioid use (10,965 provided responses), with NMU defined as non-oral use and/or use of someone else’s opioids. Multinomial logistic regression was conducted, examining medical use only and NMU in the past 30 days.

Results: Among the 10,965 youth, 3.1% (n = 345) reported past 30-day NMU. Obtaining alcohol from parents was associated with increased odds of past 30-day NMU among males (OR = 2.49, 95%CI: 1.54,4.03) only. For each additional close friend who used other substances, odds of past 30-day NMU increased among males (OR = 1.23, 95%CI: 1.11,1.37) and females (OR = 1.15, 95%CI: 1.04,1.27). Increased number of close friends was associated with decreased odds of past 30-day NMU among males (OR = 0.87, 95%CI: 0.78,0.97) and females (OR = 0.86, 95%CI: 0.77,0.96).

Conclusions: Peer and parental risk factors for prescription opioid NMU were identified among youth, although not all differed by sex. An increased number of close friends was a protective factor against prescription opioid NMU for both males and females.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth
• opioids
• non-medical use
• sex differences
• parent
• peer
• relationship risk factors

Relevant disclosures

The N-MAPSS study was implemented by Washington University in St Louis and University of Florida under contract from Pinney Associates, Inc., with funding provided by Shire Development LLC and Noven Therapeutics. The funding sources had no role in the study design, in the collection, analysis or interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Noven Therapeutics;Shire Development LLC;