Most of the Time You Already Know: Pharmaceutical Information Assembly by Young Adults on the Internet

摘要

This study examined the utilization of the Internet by young adults as a source of information for the non-medical use of prescription drugs. Collected during 2008 and 2009, the data presented here comes from semi-structured interviews (N=62) conducted in a northwestern city of the United States through support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Previous studies have characterized young adults as particularly vulnerable to online prescription drug information which analysts portray as having a significant, invariably detrimental, impact on youth drug use behaviors. The results presented here suggest that young adults are more skeptical and information-savvy than many substance abuse analysts acknowledge.