Forget the Coffee, Give Me the Methylphenidates.

There are many students in college that are diagnosed with ADHD that are using stimulant prescriptions. These stimulants allow the consumer to keep focus and keep their attention on the task at hand. These qualities are very attractive to college students that don’t have ADHD, but want academic aid in studying and paying attention. Several reasons that contribute to college students misusing prescription stimulants is to improve academic performance, help with concentration and focusing, increase test performance, and also for recreational purposes.

The participants observed in this study were first year students and they were observed during their four years of college. The study examined several factors such as motives, risk factors, and source. The results showed that at the end of year four two-thirds of the participants were offered a stimulant and one-third misused them. Studying was the main motive in students abusing a stimulant; however, curiosity was the main motive in first year college students.  Logistic regression models show that non-medical use of prescription stimulants correlated with a lower GPA.

This study shows found that the opportunity to get ahold of a stimulant for non-medical reasons is high. Therefore, education on the abuse of prescription stimulants needs to be addressed before students enter college. Also when looking at cost of these prescriptions, students rarely paid more than five dollars making it easily available. The typical college student that’s misusing stimulants is trying the students who are trying to improve their academic performance. During periods of stress, such as final exams or work deadlines, are times when a student is more likely to misuse prescription stimulants. For future research other potential risk factors should be examined. This study primarily looked at motives, opportunity, and risks of misusing stimulant prescriptions. In the future psychological, emotional, and neuropsychological factors should be examined in non-medical stimulant use.

Abstract

Garnier-Dykstra, L. M., Caldeira, K. M., Vincent, K. B., O’Grady, K. E., & Arria, A. M. (2012). Nonmedical use of prescription stimulants during college: four-year trends in exposure opportunity, use, motives, and sources. Journal of American College Health, 60(3), 226-234.