Citation

Parks KA, Frone MR, Muraven M, Boyd C. Addict. Behav. 2016; 65: 258-263.

Affiliation

UM Addiction Research Center, School of Nursing and Women's Studies Department, University of Michigan, 400 N. Ingalls, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.08.018

PMID

27567398

Abstract

The present study of college students investigated (a) the prevalence of nonmedical use of three classes of prescription drugs (stimulants, anxiolytics/sedatives, analgesics), (b) the prevalence of negative sexual events (NSE) associated with any nonmedical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD), and (c) a set of correlates of NSE. The specific NSE were sexual aggression victimization and perpetration, and regretted sex. The correlates of the NSE were sex, race/ethnicity, year in school, psychological symptoms, alcohol use, illegal drug use, and NMUPD. Participants were 509 (254 females, 255 males) randomly-selected college students who reported any NMUPD. The majority (76.2%) of the sample reported ever using stimulants, 38.9% reported ever using anxiolytics/sedatives, and 40.9% reported using analgesics. During NMUPD, 14.3% of the students reported regretted sex, 7.1% of female students reported sexual victimization, and 6.3% of male students reported perpetrating sexual aggression. Multiple logistic regression analyses indicated that anxiolytic/sedative use (Adj. OR=1.99; 95% CI=1.51-2.62) was positively associated with regretted sex, whereas anxiolytic/sedative use (Adj. OR=1.79; 95% CI=1.01-3.16) and psychological symptoms (Adj. OR=1.06; 95% CI=1.02-1.10) were positively associated with sexual victimization. Illegal drug use was positively associated with perpetrating sexual aggression (Adj. OR=4.10; 95% CI=1.21-13.86). These findings suggest that among these college students, NMUPD-associated NSE were not uncommon, and primarily associated with anxiolytic/sedative use. Given the academic, physical, and psychological implications associated with NSE, research needs to further explore the causal nature of these relations.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en