NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY ON DRUG ABUSE: psychotherapeutic drugs

1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

Nonmedical (Illicit) Use of Any Psychotherapeutic Drug (Tables 6.1 to 6.3)

Tables 6.1 to 6.3 show the percentages of persons aged 12 or older who in 1997 reported nonmedical use of any psychotherapeutic drug in their lifetime, during the past year, and during the past month. The highest rates of use of any psychotherapeutic in all three time frames were reported by young and middle adults aged 18 to 34. For past year and current use, the percentages were highest among persons aged 12 to 25.

Any Psychotherapeutic Use, by Age Group and Gender. Among the total population, a higher percentage of males (11%) than females (8%) reported ever using any psychotherapeutic drug nonmedically. Overall and among young and middle adults, males were more likely than females to report past year use.

Any Psychotherapeutic Use, by Age Group and Race/Ethnicity. Overall, whites reported higher percentages of lifetime (10%) and past year illicit psychotherapeutic use (3%) compared with blacks (5% lifetime; 2% past year) and Hispanics (6% lifetime; 2% past year).14 Overall and among the three youngest age groups, whites were more likely than either blacks or Hispanics to have used a psychotherapeutic drug in the past year.

Psychotherapeutic Use, by Age Group, Population Density, and Region. Few differences reached statistical significance in rates of past year and past month nonmedical use of any psychotherapeutic drug by population density. The most notable differences were between rates of past month use among respondents aged 35 or older, where rates of use were 0.9% in large metropolitan and 1.0% in small metropolitan areas compared with 0.1% in nonmetropolitan areas.

Residents of the West generally reported the highest percentages of past year and past month use, and persons in the Northeast reported the lowest. Additionally, in the two youngest age groups, residents of the West reported higher rates of past year and past month use than those in the Northeast and North Central regions.

Psychotherapeutic Use, by Adult Education and Adult Employment. Adult educational attainment had a somewhat different relationship to psychotherapeutic use depending on the time frame and the age group. For past year or current use, there were no differences in the total population by education and only a few significant differences within age groups were found. Among those aged 18 to 25, college graduates (1.0%) reported lower past month rates than those in all other education categories (2.3% to 2.8%).
Among the total adult population, those who were employed full-time, part-time, or were unemployed were two to three times more likely to have used any psychotherapeutic drug nonmedically during the past year than were those in the "other"15 employment category. Additionally, among those aged 35 or older, those employed full-time were more likely than those unemployed and those in the "other" category to report past year use. The only significant difference in past month use within age group was found among adults aged 35 or older where those employed full-time reported higher rates than those employed part-time.

14 In the interest of readability for this report, "white" is used to indicate "white, non-Hispanic," and "black" to indicate "black, non-Hispanic."

15 "Other" employment indicates retired, disabled, homemaker, student, or "other."

This page was last updated on June 16, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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