Connecting the Dots: Adolescent Prescription Drug Use and Future Drug-Using Behaviors

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

Approximately 2.5 million adolescents in the United States have misused or abused prescription drugs at some point in their lifetime. All previous research and literature shows that prescription drug use in adolescence could lead to future drug abuse and misuse but there is a gap in the literature to explain the mechanisms by which this occurs. This research examines elements of social learning theory and differential association theory and their relationship with future drug-using behaviors. The current study hopes to explain why prescription drugs might be one of the leading causes to abusing and misusing other drugs. Due to the rise of this epidemic, policy recommendations will evolve around the at-risk adolescents and associations at all levels of government, including the local, state and federal levels.

Authors

• Morgan Grahn, Saint Vincent College

• Eric Kocian, Saint Vincent College