Drug Exposure Opportunities and Use Patterns Among College Students: Results of a Longitudinal Prospective Cohort Study

ABSTRACT

Underage drinking and drug use among college students are major public health concerns, yet few studies have examined these behaviors and their associated risk factors and consequences prospectively. This paper describes the sampling and recruitment methods of a longitudinal study of 1253 college students at a large, mid-Atlantic university. Incoming first-year students were screened during the unique window between high school and college in order to oversample drug users for longitudinal follow-up. Intensive recruitment strategies yielded a 95% cumulative response rate in annual interviews and semiannual surveys. The authors report preliminary results on exposure opportunity, lifetime prevalence, initiation, continuation, and cessation of substance use for alcohol, tobacco, and 10 illicit and prescription drugs during the first 2 years of college. Findings suggest that although some substance use represents a continuation of patterns initiated in high school, exposure opportunity and initiation of substance use frequently occur in college. Implications for prevention and early intervention are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• College students
• epidemiology
• initiation
• longitudinal studies
• substance use

The investigators would like to acknowledge funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 DA14845). Special thanks are given to Elizabeth Zarate, Laura Garnier, the interviewing team, and the participants.

Notes

∗Statistically significant difference (P < .05) between screening participants and freshman class.

^a Resource limitations prevented staff from contacting all sampled students; “unavailable” students are those who could not be contacted with available resources.

^b Students who were contacted but declined to participate are considered refusals.

∗Statistically significant difference (P < .05) between baseline participants and baseline unavailables.

∗∗Statistically significant difference (P < .05) between baseline participants and baseline refusals.

∗Amphetamines include methamphetamine but do not include prescription or over-the-counter medications.

Henceforth in this paper, to save space, when we refer to use of “stimulants,” “tranquilizers,” and “analgesics,” we are referring to the nonmedical use of each these prescription drugs as described in this section.