Table 2.

Trends in Stimulant Use in the U.S Population 18 Years and Younger, 1996–2008

	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	1996–2008 Difference		2002–2008 Difference		1996–2002 Difference
														t-stat	p-value	t-stat	p-value	t-stat	p-value
Number of users (millions)	1.8 (1.4–2.2)	2.0 (1.7–2.3)	2.2 (1.8–2.6)	2.1 (1.7–2.6)	2.1 (1.6–2.7)	2.4 (2.0–2.8)	2.2 (1.9–2.6)	2.3 (2.0–2.7)	2.2 (1.8–2.6)	2.1 (2.1–2.9)	2.3 (1.7–2.4)	2.3 (1.9–2.7)	2.8 (2.3–3.2)	3.10	0.002	1.81	0.072	1.72	0.085
0–5	0.1 (0.0–0.1)	0.1 (0.0–0.1)	0.1 (0.0–0.2)	0.1 (0.0–0.1)	0.1 (0.0–0.1)	0.1 (0.0–0.1)	0.1 (0.0–0.1)	0.1 (0.0–0.1)	0.0 (0.0–0.1)	0.0 (0.0–0.1)	0.0 (0.0–0.1)	0.0 (0.0–0.1)	0.0 (0.0–0.0)	−1.14	0.256	−1.22	0.221	−0.04	0.967
6–12	1.2 (0.9–1.5)	1.2 (1.0–1.5)	1.4 (1.0–1.7)	1.4 (1.0–1.7)	1.3 (0.9–1.6)	1.3 (1.1–1.6)	1.4 (1.1–1.6)	1.3 (1.0–1.5)	1.2 (0.9–1.4)	1.2 (0.9–1.4)	1.3 (1.0–1.6)	1.3 (1.1–1.6)	1.5 (1.2–1.8)	1.42	0.156	0.59	0.554	1.02	0.310
13–18	0.5 (0.4–0.7)	0.7 (0.5–0.9)	0.7 (0.5–0.9)	0.7 (0.5–0.9)	0.8 (0.5–1.1)	0.9 (0.7–1.2)	0.8 (0.6–1.0)	1.0 (0.7–1.2)	1.0 (0.7–1.2)	0.8 (0.6–1.1)	1.0 (0.7–1.2)	1.0 (0.8–1.2)	1.3 (1.0–1.6)	3.93	<.001	2.57	0.010	2.06	0.040
Percent with Use	2.4 (1.8–2.9)	2.7 (2.3–3.1)	2.8 (2.3–3.3)	2.8 (2.3–3.3)	2.8 (2.3–3.3)	3.1 (2.6–3.5)	2.9 (2.5–3.3)	3.0 (2.6–3.5)	2.8 (2.4–3.3)	2.7 (2.3–3.1)	2.9 (2.5–3.4)	3.0 (2.5–3.5)	3.5 (3.0–4.1)	3.00	0.003	1.70	0.089	1.61	0.109
0–5	0.3 (0.0–0.5)	0.4 (0.1–0.6)	0.4 (0.1–0.7)	0.3 (0.1–0.5)	0.3 (0.0–0.5)	0.4 (0.1–0.6)	0.3 (0.0–0.6)	0.3 (0.0–0.6)	0.1 (0.0–0.3)	0.1 (0.0–0.2)	0.1 (0.0–0.2)	0.1 (0.0–0.2)	0.1 (0.0–0.2)	−1.18	0.238	−1.27	0.205	0.08	0.940
6–12	4.2 (3.2–5.2)	4.4 (3.6–5.2)	4.8 (3.7–5.9)	4.7 (3.6–5.8)	4.4 (3.5–5.3)	4.7 (3.9–5.5)	4.8 (3.9–5.6)	4.4 (3.5–5.3)	4.1 (3.2–5.1)	4.2 (3.4–5.1)	4.7 (3.7–5.6)	4.6 (3.8–5.5)	5.1 (4.1–6.1)	1.29	0.197	0.54	0.591	0.89	0.373
13–18	2.3 (1.5–3.1)	2.9 (2.2–3.7)	2.9 (2.0–3.8)	2.9 (2.1–3.7)	3.4 (2.4–4.4)	3.8 (2.9–4.7)	3.2 (2.6–3.9)	3.9 (3.0–4.8)	3.8 (2.8–4.8)	3.3 (2.5–4.1)	3.7 (2.8–4.6)	3.9 (3.0–4.8)	4.9 (3.9–6.1)	3.85	<.001	2.71	0.007	1.81	0.071
Total Population (millions)	75.3	75.6	76.5	76.7	76.7	77.0	77.0	77.2	77.3	77.4	78.4	78.3	79.0
0–5	23.9	23.8	23.8	23.9	24.1	23.7	23.3	23.1	23.3	23.8	24.4	24.3	24.7
6–12	27.9	28.3	28.4	29.3	28.5	28.5	28.6	28.7	28.2	27.9	28.0	28.3	28.9
13–18	23.5	23.5	24.4	23.5	24	24.8	25.1	25.4	25.8	25.7	25.9	25.6	25.4
Sample Size	6,595	10,285	7,282	7,235	7,286	9,710	11,713	10,528	10,297	10,172	10,152	8,968	9,661
0–5	2,018	3,081	2,116	2,158	2,221	2,924	3,455	3,194	3,177	3,114	3,103	2,674	3,046
6–12	2,577	4,008	2,844	2,872	2,851	3,733	4,498	3,992	3,898	3,825	3,792	3,389	3,588
13–18	2,000	3,196	2,322	2,205	2,214	3,053	3,760	3,342	3,222	3,233	3,257	2,905	3,027

Source: Authors’ Calculations from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 1996–2008