Description/Abstract
The opioid crisis is a national public health emergency. Over 47,000 people in the U.S. died of opioid overdoses in 2017. Improving our knowledge about how people first come to misuse opioids can help to inform prevention and treatment interventions. This research brief shows that opioid misuse most often begins before age 25, most people obtain the opioids they misuse from friends and family rather than a health care provider, and experimenting and coping with life stressors are the most common motivations for starting opioid misuse.
Accessible Version
Document Type
Research Brief
Keywords
opioids, substance misuse
Disciplines
Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies | Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance | Substance Abuse and Addiction
Date
5-14-2020
For More Information
Funder(s)
Social Science Research Institute and by the Justice Center for Research at Penn State University
Recommended Citation
Rigg, Khary K.; Monnat, Shannon M.; McLean, Katherine; Verdery, Ashton; and Sterner, Glenn, "The Stories behind the Struggle: A Closer Look at First Experiences with Opioid Misuse" (2020). Population Health Research Brief Series. 101.
https://surface.syr.edu/lerner/101
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Included in
Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, Substance Abuse and Addiction Commons
