Young adults’ stigmatization of people who misuse prescription opioids: an exploratory study

ABSTRACT

Based on the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), this study used a survey to examine personal, behavioral, and environmental factors affecting young adults’ stigmatic views toward people misusing prescription opioid drugs (POD). Results indicated that stigmatic perception was negatively related to exposure to news coverage while positively associated with anti-opioid abuse messages. People with more stigmatic views toward POD misusers assigned more blame to these misusers than to pharmaceutical companies. POD misuse was negatively related to stigmatic views; the correlation coefficient was greater among people with high self-efficacy compared to those with low self-efficacy. The results provide an interesting glimpse and add to the overall knowledge of POD-related stigmatic views among young adults. It provides initial yet compelling evidence for the potential influence of various types of media content, self-efficacy, and POD misuse behavior on the stigmatic view. The findings may also help policymakers and the public to counter the opioid crisis in America more effectively.