Opioid misuse has quickly become a national public health emergency specifically for emergency adults between the ages of 18-25 years. It is important to determine factors of this misuse among those in this developmental period. The present study looks at alcohol and marijuana (AM) use among adolescents to see how it may predict subsequent non-medical prescription opioid and heroin use during young adulthood.
Participants for this study were from an 11 wave ongoing study starting around age 11 and ending around age 22. The study included 2,496 participants at wave 11. Wave 8-11 measured past year of opioid use by asking how many times they had tried heroin and prescription narcotic medications to get high. Resistance self-efficacy (RSE) was assessed during waves 1-7 by asking participants what they do in a situation where they are offered alcohol or marijuana. Family time and peer time was assessed during wave 1-7. Family time assessed sibling substance use along with adult substance use. Peer time assessed perceived norms by asking participants about substance use of youth their age.
Results showed AM resistance self-efficacy decreased over time during adolescents and all other measured significantly increased over time. Prior substance use predicted higher odds of opioid misuse. Older sibling use predicted higher opioid misuse and increases in sibling use from ages 11-17 predicted lower probability of misuse at age 11. Researchers found peer approval of AM use predicted a higher probability of opioid misuse at wave 8. With these findings, when adjusting for history of other substance use, most factors were no longer association with later opioid use. This points to the need for larger context studies of opioid misuse among young adults.
Take Away: The present study looks at alcohol and marijuana (AM) use among adolescents to see how it may predict subsequent non-medical prescription opioid and heroin use during young adulthood. Participants for this study were from an 11 wave ongoing study with 2,496 participants. Wave 8-11 measured past year of opioid use by asking how many times they had tried heroin and prescription narcotic medications to get high. Resistance self-efficacy (RSE), family time, and peer time were assessed during waves 1-7. Results showed AM resistance self-efficacy decreased over time during adolescents and all other measured significantly increased over time. Prior substance use also predicted higher odds of opioid misuse. Older sibling use predicted higher opioid misuse and increases in sibling use from ages 11-17 predicted lower probability of misuse at age 11. With these findings, when adjusting for history of other substance use, most factors were no longer association with later opioid use.
Tucker, J. S., Davis, J. P., Seelam, R., Stein, B. D., & D’Amico, E. J. (2020). Predictors of Opioid Misuse During Emerging Adulthood: An Examination of Adolescent Individual, Family and Peer Factors. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 214, 108188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108188