Persistent nonmedical use of prescription stimulants among college students: possible association with ADHD symptoms.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the possible association between untreated ADHD symptoms (as measured by the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale) and persistent nonmedical use of prescription stimulants. METHOD Multinomial regression modeling was used to compare ADHD symptoms among three groups of college students enrolled in a longitudinal study over 4 years: (1) persistent nonmedical users of prescription stimulants, (2) persistent users of marijuana who did not use prescription stimulants nonmedically, and (3) consistent nonusers of drugs. RESULTS ADHD symptoms were associated with being a persistent nonmedical user of prescription stimulants after adjustment for race/ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, and other illicit drug use. No associations were observed between ADHD symptoms and being a persistent marijuana user or nonuser. CONCLUSION ADHD symptoms, and in particular inattention symptoms, appeared to be associated with nonmedical use of prescription stimulants.