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Psychological distress, non-medical use of prescription medications, and perceived unmet mental health care needs: a cross-sectional study of Ontario students

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Abstract

Purpose

The non-medical use of prescription medications among adolescents has become a concerning public health issue. This study assessed the prevalence of the non-medical use of prescription medications in Ontario high school students, and explored the moderating effect of this use on the relationship between psychological distress and unmet mental health needs.

Methods

Cross-sectional data for 4896 students, age 14–18, were drawn from the 2019 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey. Psychological distress was measured using the Kessler-6 Distress Scale, unmet mental health needs were defined by self-report (yes/no), and non-prescription medication use was defined by self-reported frequency of use. Using logistic regression, we explored the effect of the non-medical use of prescription medications on the relationship between psychological distress and unmet mental health needs.

Results

High proportions of Ontario students reported serious psychological distress (22%), some degree of unmet mental health need (38%), and/or non-medical use of prescription medications (13%). While there were strong associations between psychological distress and unmet mental health need, this association was weaker among those reporting non-medical use of prescription medications (OR = 3.3, 95% CI 1.9–5.7) compared to non-users (OR = 5.6, 95% CI 4.5–7.1).

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that Ontario students experiencing distress and using non-prescribed medications are less likely to identify a need for mental health support, highlighting the consequences of apparent self-medication through misuse of prescription medications. To assist in the redirection of adolescent perceptions of healthy coping strategies, population-based educational programming, with targeted promotion of both formal and informal mental health care resources, should be considered.

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Data availability

Data can be accessed by contacting the OSDUHS team at osduhs@camh.ca.

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Funding

This work was partly supported by the Canada Research Chairs program and the Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence funding scheme (Project No. 262700).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, 600 Peter Morand Crescent, Room 308C, Ottawa, ON, K1G 5Z3, Canada

    Hannah Landry, Mila Kingsbury & Ian Colman

  2. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Hayley A. Hamilton

  3. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Hayley A. Hamilton

  4. Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

    Ian Colman

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  1. Hannah Landry
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  2. Mila Kingsbury
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  3. Hayley A. Hamilton
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  4. Ian Colman
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Contributions

H.L. and I.C. conceived of the presented idea. H.L. developed the theory and performed the computations. I.C. and M.K. verified the analytical methods. H.L., I.C. and M.K. discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript. H.L. wrote the main manuscript text and all authors participated in the review process.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ian Colman.

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Landry, H., Kingsbury, M., Hamilton, H.A. et al. Psychological distress, non-medical use of prescription medications, and perceived unmet mental health care needs: a cross-sectional study of Ontario students. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 58, 1483–1492 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-023-02450-y

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