Many teens and young adults are now abusing prescription drugs, a new study has found.
The study was conducted by researchers from University of Cincinnati, who found that 13.7 percent of the students in their study were using prescription drugs - without a doctor's prescription.
Prescription drug abuse or the use of prescription drugs for non-medical purposes is a serious threat to public health. According to Medline Plus, an estimated 20 percent of people in the U.S. have abused prescription drugs like painkillers. According to the National Institute for Drug Abuse, unintentional overdose deaths that involve prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999 and these now outnumber overdoses from hardcore drugs like heroin and cocaine combined.
The data for the study came from the 54,000 students (7th to 12th grade) who were enrolled in the 2009-2010 Pride Survey on adolescent drug use in America. The data was collected from schools across Greater Cincinnati, including the Tristate regions of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, according to a news release from the University.
The study also found that boys and high-school students were more likely to abuse these drugs than girls or students of junior-high. Among ethnicity, Hispanic students were more than African-American or white students to use these drugs.
Among students who didn't abuse these drugs, family connections and peer support were cited as major reasons for avoiding drug abuse.
"Students at every grade level who reported high levels of parent and peer disapproval of use were at decreased odds for lifetime nonmedical prescription drug use," the study said.
The study is published in the journal Primary Prevention.
"While much research has examined factors associated with overall substance use among youth, relatively few studies have specifically investigated risk factors, protective factors and sex/grade differences for youth involvement in nonmedical prescription use. Identifying specific risk and protective factors for males, females, junior high and high school students would help to clarify prevention needs and enhance prevention programming," the authors wrote.