Exploring Predictors of Drug Use Disorders and Drug Treatment Services in a National Sample of Women

Abstract

A representative sample of (n=20,447) women from the United States ages 18 years and older was used from the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions III (NESARC-III), 2013-2015. Descriptive analyses, multiple logistic regressions and General Linear Models (GLM) were used to 1) to determine the prevalence of Drug Use Disorders (DUD) and its associated predictors in a national sample of women and 2) to explore the relationships between selected types and number of treatment services for DUDs and predisposing factors, enabling resources and need factors. Models were developed to test the extent to which multiple independent variables, independently and/or jointly were associated with selected types and number of drug treatment services.

The findings of this study revealed that factors that were considered separately presented different profiles dependent upon the type of treatment services. Within specific services, significant relationships found in the analysis stratified by the type of factor remained after considering the joint associations of all three types of factors. The study’s findings have implications for further research and policy.