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Comparative Study
. 2018 Jul;22(9_suppl):21S-37S.
doi: 10.1177/1087054717714058. Epub 2017 Nov 1.

The Qualitative Interview Study of Persistent and Nonpersistent Substance Use in the MTA: Sample Characteristics, Frequent Use, and Reasons for Use

James M Swanson  1 , Timothy Wigal  2 , Peter S Jensen  3 , John T Mitchell  4 , Thomas S Weisner  5 , Desiree Murray  6 , L Eugene Arnold  7 , Lily Hechtman  8 , Brooke S G Molina  9 , Elizabeth B Owens  10 , Stephen P Hinshaw  10 , Katherine Belendiuk  11 , Andrea Howard  12 , Sharon B Wigal  2 , Page Sorensen  13 , Annamarie Stehli  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

The Qualitative Interview Study of Persistent and Nonpersistent Substance Use in the MTA: Sample Characteristics, Frequent Use, and Reasons for Use

James M Swanson et al. J Atten Disord. 2018 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate participants' perceptions about frequent use and reasons for substance use (SU) in the qualitative interview study, an add-on to the multimodal treatment study of ADHD (MTA).

Method: Using the longitudinal MTA database, 39 ADHD cases and 19 peers with Persistent SU, and 86 ADHD cases and 39 peers without Persistent SU were identified and recruited. In adulthood, an open-ended interview was administered, and SU excerpts were indexed and classified to create subtopics (frequent use and reasons for use of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs).

Results: For marijuana, the Persistent compared with Nonpersistent SU group had a significantly higher percentage of participants describing frequent use and giving reasons for use, and the ADHD group compared with the group of peers had a significantly higher percentage giving "stability" as a reason for use.

Conclusion: Motivations for persistent marijuana use may differ for adults with and without a history of ADHD.

Keywords: ADHD; MTA study; marijuana; qualitative research; substance abuse.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interests

The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: In the past 2 years: Dr. Swanson has received support from NLS Pharma to attend an advisory board meeting and from Medice to attend an international expert board meeting. Dr. T. Wigal is a consultant to, member of the scientific advisory boards, or received speaker fees and/or has received research support from Ironshore, Neurovance, Akili, NLS, Tris, Pfizer, Purdue, Rhodes, Shire, and Sunovion. Dr. Jensen received royalties from several publishing companies: Random House, Oxford, and APPI, Inc. He also is a part owner of a consulting company, CATCH Services, LLC. He is the CEO/President of a non-profit organization, the REACH Institute, but receives no compensation. The REACH Institute has received an unrestricted gift from Shire, Inc. Dr. Mitchell has received royalties from New Harbinger Press. Dr. Arnold has received research funding from Curemark, Forest, Lilly, Neuropharm, Novartis, Noven, Shire, Supernus, and YoungLiving (as well as NIH and Autism Speaks) and has consulted with or been on advisory boards for Arbor, Gowlings, Neuropharm, Novartis, Noven, Organon, Otsuka, Pfizer, Roche, Seaside Therapeutics, Sigma Tau, Shire, Tris Pharma, and Waypoint. Dr. Hechtman has received research funding, served on the advisory boards and has been speaker for Ely Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Ortho Janssen, Purdue, and Shire. Dr. Belendiuk has stock/equity in Shire and Roche. Dr. S. Wigal is a consultant to, member of the scientific advisory boards, or received speaker fees and/or has received research support from Ironshore, Neurovance, Akili, NLS, Tris, Pfizer, Purdue, Rhodes, Shire, and Sunovion. None of the other authors have any additional declarations.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Trajectories of Substance Use in the Subgroups from the Substance Use Questionnaire
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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