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Nonmedical prescription drug use linked to dating violence in teens
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Teenagers who use prescription drugs for nonmedical uses are significantly more likely to experience dating violence victimization regardless of sex, according to a study published in Pediatrics.
“Dating violence victimization among youth has been associated with other adverse health outcomes and risk-taking behaviors, such as substance use, mental health disorders, eating disorders, sexual risk-taking, future dating violence or intimate partner violence and suicide ideation,” Heather B. Clayton, PhD, MPH, from the division of adolescent and school health in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention at the CDC, and colleagues wrote. “Of particular concern in public health is the association between substance use behaviors and dating violence victimization among adolescents.”
To determine the connection between high school students’ nonmedical use of prescription drugs and dating violence victimization and how this varies by sex, the researchers conducted an analysis of data gathered from the 2015 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey. This cross-sectional survey included teenagers who dated 12 months before the survey and were in grades 9 to 12.
The links between lifetime nonmedical use of prescription drugs and dating violence — represented using adjusted prevalence rations (aPRs) and 95% CIs — were examined using sex-stratified logistic regression models. Four levels of dating violence victimization included in the analysis were no dating violence victimization, physical only, sexual only and both physical and sexual.
Dating violence victimization was significantly less prevalent in the 5,136 boys included in the study compared with the 5,307 girls included. Nonmedical use of prescription drugs was most frequently associated with two levels of violence victimization — sexual only (aPR = 1.61; 95% CI, 1.21-2.12) and both physical and sexual (aPR = 1.65; 95% CI, 1.26-2.17) — in boys. In girls, physical dating violence victimization only (aPR = 1.42; 95% CI, 1.16-1.75) and both physical and sexual violence (aPR = 1.43; 95% CI, 1.03-1.99) were related to nonmedical use of prescription drugs.
“A unique contribution of our study was exploring the association between types of dating violence victimization and nonmedical use of prescription drugs by sex,” Clayton and colleagues wrote. “Available literature on adolescent populations either focuses solely on girls or adolescents in general, without regard to sex. Male adolescents have not received as much attention, possibly because the prevalence of dating violence victimization among boys is significantly lower than the prevalence observed for girls.” – by Katherine Bortz
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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