# Trajectories of Nonmedical Prescription Drug Misuse

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $358,800

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
In response to PAR-18-062: Accelerating the Pace of Drug Abuse Research Using Existing Data, this
competing renewal “Trajectories of Nonmedical Prescription Drug Misuse” builds on our parent R01 and
proposes to use national data to assess the longitudinal relationships among trajectories of medical and
nonmedical use of prescription medications, functional outcomes and adverse consequences from
adolescence (age 18) to middle adulthood (age 50). The proposed research will focus on prescription opioids,
sedatives/tranquilizers, and stimulants because the medical and nonmedical use of these medications and
related consequences have increased over the past three decades in the U.S. To date, no national studies
have examined the impact of attrition on medical and nonmedical use estimates in longitudinal studies.
Moreover, national studies fail to examine long-term functional outcomes or adverse outcomes associated with
different trajectories of medical and nonmedical use of prescription medications. More longitudinal studies of
adolescents followed into middle adulthood are needed because adults are more likely to be prescribed
scheduled medications and often assume greater life/work responsibilities. As a result, we propose secondary
analyses focusing primarily on the MTF longitudinal panel sample, which features 11 separate cohorts of
approximately 26,400 high school seniors (modal age 18) who were followed 1-2 years (ages 19-20), 3-4 years
(ages 21-22), 5-6 years (ages 23-24), 7-8 years (ages 25-26), 9-10 years (ages 27-28), 11-12 years (ages 29-
30), 17 years (age 35), 22 years (age 40), 27 years (age 45), and 32 years later (age 50) resulting in 11 overall
waves of data. The MTF data provide a unique opportunity with sufficient measures and sample sizes for
examining relationships over 32 years and to meet the objectives of our study, which aims to: 1) estimate the
bias in estimated rates of medical and nonmedical use of prescription opioids, sedatives/tranquilizers, and
stimulants at different developmental periods and in estimated rates of change over time in medical and
nonmedical use due to differential attrition, by comparing and evaluating alternative weighting and imputation
approaches; 2) identify the trajectories of medical and nonmedical use of prescription opioids,
sedatives/tranquilizers, and stimulants based on multiple waves of longitudinal data from adolescence (age 18)
to middle adulthood (age 50); 3) use growth mixture modeling to evaluate whether subject-specific trajectories
of nonmedical and medical use of prescription opioids, sedatives/tranquilizers, and stimulants from
adolescence to age 45 are predictive of functional outcomes (e.g., educational attainment) and adverse
consequences (e.g., SUD symptoms) at age 50; and 4) examine the adolescent risk and protective factors for
trajectories of medical and nonmedical use of prescription medications that are associated with poor functional
outcomes and a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9908065
- **Project number:** 5R01DA031160-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** SEAN ESTEBAN MCCABE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $358,800
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2011-06-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9908065

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9908065, Trajectories of Nonmedical Prescription Drug Misuse (5R01DA031160-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9908065. Licensed CC0.

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