Prevalence and Correlates of Prescription Drug Misuse Among Spanish Adolescents

Background: Prescription drug (PD) misuse among adolescents constitutes a growing health concern worldwide. This study aimed to provide up-todate prevalence and correlates of PD misuse (i.e., tranquilizers, opioids and stimulants) among a national representative sample of high-school adolescents in Spain. Method: We used nationwide data from 36,788 adolescents (51.93% females) aged between 14 and 18 who completed the 2018-2019 Survey on Drug Use in Secondary Education in Spain (ESTUDES). Lifetime misuse of the following PD was assessed: tranquilizers without prescription, opioids to get high, and prescription stimulants to improve academic performance. Other substance use, sociodemographic characteristics, academic performance related variables, and the quality of parental relationship were assessed. Results: Lifetime prevalence of PD misuse was 8.50% for tranquilizers, 2.34% for stimulants, and 2.20% for opioids. Past-month tobacco use and lifetime illegal substance use were the only correlates associated with all PD categories (ORs between 1.419 and 6.788). The remaining sociodemographic, academic and family correlates were PD category-specific. Conclusions: This information may help in the development of empirically-based preventive interventions.