Recovery Michigan

Adolescents -- youths between 12 and 17 -- in rural communities are 35 percent more likely to have abused prescription painkillers in the past year than adolescents living in large cities. Adolescents who live in small cities have a 21 percent greater likelihood of abusing prescription painkillers than their large urban counterparts.

"Over 1.3 million adolescents abused prescription opioids within the last year," said Shannon Monnat, assistant professor of rural sociology, demography, and sociology, Penn State. "With this number of adolescents there are major implications for increased treatment demand, risk of overdose and even death from these opioids."

Females are more likely to abuse prescription painkillers than males, according to the researchers.

The painkillers that adolescents tend to abuse include OxyContin, oxycodone, Percocet and other morphine-based drugs.

The researchers suggest there are several reasons for this spread of opioid abuse in rural communities, including an increasing number of painkiller prescriptions written for adolescents, as well as the limited types of medical care available in rural areas.