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Factors Associated With Academic Nonprescribed Stimulant Use Among College Students

December 2018
Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research 23(5):341-353

DOI:10.24839/2325-7342.JN23.5.341

Authors:

Gabrielle N. Pfund

Auburn University

Cindy L Miller-Perrin

Pepperdine University

Steven V. Rouse

Pepperdine University

The complete manuscript can be found here: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.psichi.org/resource/resmgr/journal_2018/23-5-pfund.pdf

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WINTER 2018

PSI CHI

JOURNAL OF

PSYCHOLOGICAL

RESEARCH

Nonprescribed stimulant use (NPSU),

defined as using stimulants such as

Adderall, Ritalin, Vyvanse, and other

stimulants generally prescribed for attention

deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) without a

prescription, is becoming an increasing problem

across college campuses in the United States

(Bossaer et al., 2013). One meta-analysis found that

between 8% and 43% of students reported having

misused stimulants at least once in their lives, and

17% of students had misused stimulants on more

than one occasion (Benson, Flory, Humphreys,

& Lee, 2015). Although only about 2% to 8% of

college students have been diagnosed with ADHD

and have a stimulant prescription (Benson et al.,

2015), 31% of the 1,253 students in a four-year

longitudinal study admitted to using unprescribed

stimulants at some point during the study (Garnier-

Dykstra, Caldeira, Vincent, O’Grady, & Arria, 2012).

Not only is NPSU common, but stimulants

are easy to obtain and, in many cases, people with

prescription stimulants are likely to share them.

Of the college students who misused stimulants,

55% to 82% reported that obtaining the stimulant

was either somewhat easy or very easy (Benson et

al., 2015). In one study, approximately 62% of col-

lege students reported being offered prescription

stimulants at one point during their four years of

college, and in another study, the same percentage

(62%) of students with stimulant prescriptions

reported sharing their medication on at least one

occasion (Benson et al., 2015; Garnier-Dykstra et

Factors Associated With Academic Nonprescribed

Stimulant Use Among College Students

Gabrielle N. Pfund , Cindy Miller-Perrin* , and Steven V. Rouse*

Pepperdine University

ABSTRACT. Nonprescribed stimulant use (NPSU), defined in

the present study as someone taking stimulant medications

such as Adderall, Vyvanse, and Ritalin that have not been

prescribed, is becoming a norm—especially on college

campuses. This study evaluated possible predictive factors of

academic NPSU in college students. We hypothesized that

students would be more likely to misuse stimulants if they

(a) perceived NPSU to be safe, (b) perceived NPSU to be

ethical, (c) were academically extrinsically motivated,

(d) perceived their college environments to be competitive,

and (e) perceived NPSU to be common. Participants

(N = 270; 59% women, 41% men) were undergraduate

students at a small, Christian, liberal arts university in

Southern California, recruited from an online research

participation management system. Spearman Rho correlations

were calculated, and significant relationships were found

between NPSU and perceptions of NPSU commonality

(r = .18, p = .006) as well as NPSU ethicality (r = .20, p < .001).

These relationships remained significant even when

controlling for the covariate of age: NPSU commonality,

r(226) = .15, p = .03; NPSU ethicality, r(226) = -.14, p = .04.

The implications of these findings are discussed.

https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN23.5.341

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*Faculty mentor

View this full article for free at

https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN23.5.341

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