College Students' Nonmedical Use of Prescription Drugs

In the United States an estimated 48 million people 12 and older have engaged in the nonmedical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD) in their lifetime, constituting roughly 20% of the population. Surveys of nonprescription drug abuse, Emergency Department visits for prescription controlled drugs, unintentional deaths due to prescription controlled substances, therapeutic use of opioids, and opioid abuse have been steadily rising. Data indicate that in the state of Florida alone NMUPD overdoses claimed 16,650 lives from 2003 to 2009 averaging eight deaths a day. The purpose of this study was to screen college students from a southwest Florida university for their NMUPD and explore how their attitude towards, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control of self may be able to identify significant associations of their NMUPD intentions over the next 30 days. It was also hypothesized that college students’ perceived behavioral control and their NMUPD next 30 day intentions may be able to identify significant associations of their past 30 day NMUPD behaviors. The sample for this one-week, non-experimental, quantitative cross-sectional survey design consisted of 217 full-time college students enrolled at a southwest Florida university. Data for this self-completed survey questionnaire was collected through the use of a secure web-based survey tool and analyzed using multivariate analysis. Multivariate regression analysis revealed college students’ NMUPD perceived behavioral control and their next 30 day intentions predicted 73.3% of their past 30 day behaviors. Survey results also indicate 12.9% of the students engaged in the NMUPD within the past 30 days. The majority of participants (n = 177; 81.6%) comprised low total Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST) scores, however, participants (n = 84; 38.7%) engaged in the NMUPD over the past 12 months. Findings from this study will be used to provide researchers, practitioners, educators, law enforcement, and policy makers with data to assist them in developing better-tailored prevention, intervention, and treatment modalities