This study supplies a rich understanding of the growing national trend of illegal ADHD stimulant use. The authors discuss strategies for stemming the tide of ADHD stimulant use.
In-depth interviews were conducted in 2007 with 175 undergraduate students (94 males, 81 females, 13 non-Caucasian) at a large, public southeastern research university located in an urban area in the United States. Our primary goal was to identify how these students conceive of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) stimulants and their illegal use. We discovered that these students frame stimulant use as both physically harmless and morally acceptable. Specifically, these students justify their drug use through the use of four recurring prostimulant arguments: 1) comparison-and-contrast, 2) all-things-in-moderation, 3) self-medicating, and 4) minimization arguments. We discuss limitations to the study and conclude by suggesting five strategies for prevention researchers that would directly target these four arguments.
Qualitative methods were used to investigate the use of nonmedical Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) stimulants by fraternity members. The primary goal of the study was to determine students' levels of understanding and motivations for use of these Schedule II controlled substances. Seventy-nine in-depth interviews were conducted. Key findings highlighted how: a) easy it was for subjects to obtain stimulants; b) little health information nonmedical users have about stimulants; c) academic stress created a fertile context for stimulant use; and d) a small number of prescribed users supply the vast majority of nonmedical users with their stimulants. Most nonmedical users claimed to primarily use ADHD stimulants in periods of high academic stress and believed that they not only reduced fatigue, but also increased reading comprehension, interest, cognition, and memory. These qualitative data have supplied a rich and complex understanding behind nonmedical ADHD stimulant use among fraternity members.
This study identifies indicators of college students, with prescriptions to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) stimulants, who are most likely to distribute their medication to nonprescribed peers. 2,313 undergraduate students at a large Southeastern University were surveyed from 2009 to 2011. 5.2% (n = 120) were currently taking a prescribed ADHD stimulant. Analyses revealed that distributors are more likely to (1) take their medication less frequently; (2) misuse their stimulants for "off label" purposes; (3) be a member of a fraternity; (4) overestimate the percentages of users; and (5) belong to at-risk peer groups. The work concludes by discussing the study's implications, limitations and future research.
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