Table 3:
Individual Prescription Stimulant Misuse (PSM) and PSM Motive Categories by Educational Characteristic in Young Adults (18–25 years) with Past-Year PSM
| In College (1)a | College Graduates (2)a | Not in School and HS Graduate (3)a | Not in School and dropped out of HS (4)a | Entire Sample | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample Size | 1,686 | 534 | 1,179 | 173 | 3,572 |
| % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | |
| Individual Motives | |||||
| To Lose Weight | 3.9 (3.0–5.1)3, 4 | 4.5 (2.8–7.0)3, 4 | 9.4 (7.3–12.0)1, 2 | 11.8 (6.2–21.1)1, 2 | 6.0 (5.1–7.1) |
| To Concentrate | 63.7 (61.0–66.4)2, 3 | 53.2 (48.5–57.8)1 | 55.5 (52.3–58.8)1 | 47.9 (37.5–58.6) | 58.8 (57.0–60.6) |
| To Be Alert | 42.2 (39.4–45.0)3 | 54.7 (49.0–60.2) | 52.6 (48.4–56.8)1 | 41.8 (34.3–49.8) | 47.4 (45.1–49.7) |
| To Study | 66.6 (63.6–69.5)3, 4 | 53.9 (48.9–58.9)3, 4 | 27.2 (24.2–30.4)1, 2, 4 | 15.4 (9.7–23.6)1, 2, 3 | 50.4 (48.2–52.6) |
| To Experiment | 9.5 (7.8–11.6) | 7.1 (5.0–9.9) | 12.0 (9.3–15.2) | 10.1 (6.4–15.5) | 9.9 (8.7–11.3) |
| To Get High | 9.3 (7.7–11.3)3, 4 | 13.4 (9.9–17.9) | 18.2 (15.2–21.6)1 | 24.8 (18.7–32.0)1 | 13.4 (12.0–14.8) |
| To Alter Other Drug Effects | 3.3 (2.4–4.6) | 5.2 (3.3–8.1) | 2.8 (1.8–4.2) | 2.3 (0.8–6.7) | 3.4 (2.8–4.2) |
| “Because I’m Hooked” | 0.8 (0.4–1.5) | 1.6 (0.6–3.8) | 1.2 (0.6–2.2) | no cases | 1.0 (0.6–1.6) |
| Other Reason | 1.3 (0.8–2.2)3, 4 | 2.5 (1.2–5.4) | 4.1 (2.9–5.9)1 | 6.4 (3.5–11.6)1 | 2.6 (2.0–3.4) |
| Motive Categoriesb | |||||
| Weight Loss Only | 0.5 (0.2–1.0)3, 4 | 0.2 (0.02–1.3) | 2.4 (1.4–4.1)1 | 3.9 (1.5–10.0)1 | 1.1 (0.8–1.7) |
| Cognitive Enhancement Only | 78.2 (75.1–81.0) | 74.7 (69.8–78.9) | 64.7 (60.5–68.6) | 55.4 (45.6–64.7) | 72.6 (70.5–74.6) |
| Recreational-Only | 5.0 (3.8–6.5)3, 4 | 8.6 (5.8–12.5) | 11.9 (9.6–14.6)1 | 21.4 (14.8–30.0)1 | 8.4 (7.3–9.5) |
| Combined | 16.4 (13.8–19.3) | 16.6 (13.3–20.6) | 21.1 (17.7–24.9) | 19.3 (13.6–26.7) | 17.9 (16.3–19.7) |
Data: 2015–18 NSDUH
Superscript numbers denote differences from the group with the letter (i.e., 1 denotes a significant difference from young adults in college), with all comparisons adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, sex, household income and population density and Bonferroni corrected for multiple comparisons (i.e., p-value for significance is 0.0083, or 0.05/6 comparisons).
Cognitive Enhancement Only is composed of To Concentrate, To Be Alert and To Study; Recreational is To Experiment, To Get High, To Alter Other Drug Effects and “Because I’m Hooked”. Cognitive Enhancement Only was set as the reference in multinomial logistic regressions.
Significant comparisons for motive categories are set at an a priori p-value of 0.0001 or less, given the large number of comparisons. Abbreviation: 95% CI = 95% confidence interval of the estimate.