Adult Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use: An Examination of Bond Theory

Abstract

Using data from the 2010 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), this research examines the extent to which social bonds predict nonmedical prescription drug use among adults. Logistic regression analyses reveal that marital bonds are consistently and negatively related to various types of nonmedical drug use net other social and medical factors; however, employment bonds are only significant and negative in models predicting nonmedical pain reliever use. Analyses of interaction terms between gender and social bonds are examined but are found non-predictive. Issues concerning a lack of data availability for adult nonmedical drug use and the quality of adult bonds are discussed.

Notes

¹Laub and Sampson (2003) have included notions of agency in their most recent theoretical forumulation.

²Regular or past month non-prescribed use of psychotherapeutics has remained relatively stable since 2002, but the number of new users has increased substantially (SAMHSA 2010).

³Patients, young persons, and health professionals have also been highlighted as high risk for nonmedical prescription drug use (UNODC 2011).

⁴Like younger adults, older adults who use nonmedical prescription drugs tend to be poly-substance users (CASA 2005).

⁵The authors ran a complete supplemental analysis on respondents who reported being 21 years of age or older. The results were not significantly different than those results including respondents 18 years and older. Since most prior analysis focuses on adolescents who are 17 and younger, we report the analysis of all adults aged 18 years and older.

⁶The drugs reported here are examples but do not include an exhaustive list of the drugs inquired about in the NSDUH.

The mean for dichotomous measures can be interpreted as a percentage.

^±NSDUH does not include the respondent's actual age in years, so we are unable to calculate a mean of respondent's age. The available data suggest that this is the approximate median of age.

Table entries are unstandardized (metric) regression coefficients (odds ratio in brackets).

*p ≤ .05; **p ≤ .10.

⁷Although NSDUH is an ongoing study, it is not a panel longitudinal design.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cindy Brooks Dollar

CINDY BROOKS DOLLAR is a doctoral candidate at North Carolina State University in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Her research and interests focus on inequality, crime, and social control.

Bradley Ray

BRADLEY RAY is an Assistant Professor at Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He conducts interdisciplinary research on criminal justice and social programs.