Table 3.

Stimulant Use by Selected Population Characteristics, 1996, 2002, 2008

	Percent with Use			1996–2008 Difference		2002–2008 Difference		1996–2002 Difference
	1996	2002	2008	t-statistic	p-value	t-statistic	p-value	t-statistic	p-value
Age
0–5	0.3 (0.1–0.5)	0.3 (0.0–0.6)	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)	4.8 (3.9–5.6)	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)	3.2 (2.6–3.9)	4.9 (3.9–6.1)	3.85	<.001	2.71	0.007	1.81	0.071
Sex
Male	3.5 (2.6–4.4)	4.0 (3.4–4.7)	5.3 (4.4–6.2)	2.76	0.006	2.25	0.025	0.89	0.372
Female	1.1 (0.7–1.6)	1.7 (1.3–2.2)	1.6 (1.1–2.1)	1.50	0.135	−0.41	0.680	1.93	0.054
Race/Ethnicity (mutually exclusive categories)
White	2.9 (2.3–3.6)	3.6 (3.0–4.2)	4.4 (3.5–5.2)	2.53	0.012	1.34	0.180	1.46	0.144
African American	1.9 (0.9–3.0)	2.2 (1.2–3.2)	3.0 (2.1–3.8)	1.52	0.129	1.15	0.252	0.39	0.694
Hispanic	0.7 (0.3–1.1)	1.4 (0.9–2.0)	2.1 (1.5–2.7)	3.75	<.001	1.63	0.103	2.16	0.031
Other	0.7 (0.0–1.8)	1.7 (0.0–3.2)	1.6 (0.0–3.0)	0.95	0.342	−0.09	0.926	0.99	0.322
Family income relative to federal poverty line
Poor/Near Poor (<125%)	2.1 (1.1–3.0)	2.6 (1.8–3.4)	3.6 (2.6–4.7)	2.27	0.023	1.62	0.106	0.88	0.380
Low/Middle (125–400%)	2.4 (1.8–3.1)	3.2 (2.5–3.8)	3.3 (2.6–4.0)	1.79	0.074	0.30	0.767	1.58	0.115
High Income (>400%)	2.5(1.5–3.5)	2.7 (1.9–3.4)	3.7 (2.5–4.9)	1.56	0.120	1.49	0.138	0.26	0.792
Region
Northeast	1.8 (1.1–2.5)	2.7 (1.6–3.9)	4.6 (3.0–6.1)	3.22	0.001	1.88	0.060	1.49	0.138
Midwest	2.6 (1.3–3.9)	3.0 (2.0–4.0)	3.9 (2.8–5.1)	1.46	0.145	1.19	0.235	0.43	0.668
South	3.2 (2.3–4.2)	3.4 (2.7–4.1)	4.0 (2.9–5.1)	1.05	0.294	0.96	0.339	0.24	0.812
West	1.2 (0.4–2.0)	2.2 (1.3–3.1)	1.6 (1.0–2.1)	0.71	0.477	−1.18	0.239	1.65	0.100
Urban
non-MSA	2.5 (1.6–3.4)	3.2 (2.3–4.0)	3.5 (2.2–4.9)	1.22	0.224	0.43	0.666	1.01	0.311
MSA	2.3 (1.7–2.9)	2.9 (2.4–3.6)	3.5(2.9–4.1)	2.71	0.007	1.69	0.092	1.31	0.191
Insurance
Any Private	2.4 (1.9–3.0)	3.0 (2.5–3.5)	3.4 (2.7–3.6)	2.26	0.024	0.97	0.334	1.44	0.150
Public Only	3.0 (1.7–4.3)	3.3 (2.5–4.2)	4.3 (3.4–5.2)	1.62	0.106	1.52	0.128	0.40	0.687
Uninsured	0.7 (0.1–1.2)	0.9 (0.0–1.7)	1.3 (0.0–2.5)	0.85	0.394	0.55	0.583	0.30	0.761
Columbia Impairment Scale (ages 5–17)
Not impaired (CIS< 16)	2.2 (1.7–2.8)	2.7 (2.3–3.2)	3.0 (2.4–3.6)	1.80	0.072	0.62	0.537	1.32	0.188
Impaired (CIS>=16)	10.0 (6.9–13.1)	13.9 (11.0–16.6)	18.1 (14.4–21.8)	3.28	0.001	1.80	0.073	1.85	0.064

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

Note: 95 percent confidence intervals in parentheses.