Ham Lindsay S, Wiersma-Mosley Jacquelyn D, Feldner Matthew T, Melkonian Alexander J, Milner Lauren A, Lewis Sarah F
a Department of Psychological Science , University of Arkansas , Fayetteville , Arkansas , USA.
b School of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas , Fayetteville , Arkansas , USA.
J Dual Diagn. 2016;12(1):43-54. doi: 10.1080/15504263.2016.1146556.
Nonmedical prescription drug use, defined as using the drug without a prescription or in ways for which it is not prescribed, and traumatic event exposure are highly prevalent among college students. Despite evidence that posttraumatic stress symptoms could place college students at risk for nonmedical prescription drug problems, no studies have examined this relationship. This study was a preliminary examination of posttraumatic stress symptoms, lifetime nonmedical prescription drug use, hazardous use, and dependence symptoms among college students with trauma exposure.
Participants were students attending a rural college in Virginia, recruited through psychology classes, flyers, LISTSERVs, and announcements at student events. All students who reported experiencing at least one traumatic event were included (N = 119); participants' mean age was 19.7 years (SD = 1.90), about half were women (n = 63, 53%), and most were Caucasian (n = 103, 87%).
Nearly 60% of participants (n = 71) reported using nonmedical prescription drugs at least once during their lifetime and were more likely than those with no use to report hazardous alcohol use (p < .01) and depressive symptoms (p < .05). There were no other significant differences between those who did and did not report use of nonmedical prescription drugs. Regression analyses showed that posttraumatic stress symptom frequency was positively associated with hazardous nonmedical prescription drug use, after controlling for gender, depressive symptoms, and hazardous alcohol use (p < .001). Posttraumatic stress symptom frequency was higher for those with any nonmedical prescription drug dependence symptoms (p < .001), but was unrelated to whether the student had ever engaged in nonmedical prescription drug use.
Findings suggest that consideration of the types of behaviors and problems a college student is experiencing related to nonmedical prescription drug use may be more relevant to posttraumatic stress symptom frequency than dichotomous measures of nonmedical prescription drug use alone. Further, the association between the frequency of posttraumatic stress symptoms and both hazardous nonmedical prescription drug use and dependence symptoms among college students with a trauma history deserves further investigation due to the resulting vulnerability to increasingly negative outcomes.
非医疗目的使用处方药，即无处方用药或以非医嘱方式用药，以及遭受创伤性事件在大学生中极为普遍。尽管有证据表明创伤后应激症状可能使大学生面临非医疗目的使用处方药问题的风险，但尚无研究探讨这种关系。本研究初步考察了有创伤经历的大学生的创伤后应激症状、终生非医疗目的使用处方药情况、危险用药情况及药物依赖症状。
参与者为弗吉尼亚一所乡村大学的学生，通过心理学课程、传单、邮件列表以及学生活动公告招募而来。所有报告至少经历过一次创伤性事件的学生均被纳入研究（N = 119）；参与者的平均年龄为19.7岁（标准差 = 1.90），约一半为女性（n = 63，53%），且大多数为白人（n = 103，87%）。
近60%的参与者（n = 71）报告终生至少有一次非医疗目的使用处方药的情况，与未使用者相比，他们更有可能报告危险饮酒行为（p < .01）和抑郁症状（p < .05）。报告和未报告非医疗目的使用处方药的参与者之间没有其他显著差异。回归分析表明，在控制了性别、抑郁症状和危险饮酒行为后，创伤后应激症状的频率与危险的非医疗目的使用处方药呈正相关（p < .001）。有任何非医疗目的使用处方药依赖症状的学生创伤后应激症状频率更高（p < .001），但与学生是否曾有过非医疗目的使用处方药的行为无关。
研究结果表明，考虑大学生在非医疗目的使用处方药方面所经历的行为和问题类型，可能比仅对非医疗目的使用处方药进行二分法测量与创伤后应激症状频率更相关。此外，鉴于有创伤史的大学生创伤后应激症状频率与危险的非医疗目的使用处方药及药物依赖症状之间的关联会导致越来越多负面后果的易感性，这一关联值得进一步研究。
