The misuse of stimulant medication among college students is a prevalent and growing problem. The purpose of this review and meta-analysis is to summarize the current research on rates and demographic and psychosocial correlates of stimulant medication misuse among college students, to provide methodological guidance and other ideas for future research, and to provide some preliminary suggestions for preventing and reducing misuse on college campuses. Random-effects meta-analysis found that the rate of stimulant medication misuse among college students was estimated at 17 % (95 % CI [0.13, 0.23], p < .001) and identified several psychological variables that differentiated misusers and nonusers, including symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, problems associated with alcohol use, and marijuana use. A qualitative review of the literature also revealed that Greek organization membership, academic performance, and other substance use were associated with misuse. Students are misusing primarily for academic reasons, and the most common source for obtaining stimulant medication is peers with prescriptions. Interpretation of findings is complicated by the lack of a standard misuse definition as well as validated tools for measuring stimulant misuse. The relation between stimulant medication misuse and extra curricular participation, academic outcomes, depression, and eating disorders requires further investigation, as do the reasons why students divert or misuse and whether policies on college campuses contribute to the high rates of misuse among students. Future research should also work to develop and implement effective prevention strategies for reducing the diversion and misuse of stimulant medication on college campuses.

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Animals are commonly categorized as diurnal, nocturnal, or crepuscular depending on the times of day when they are most active. These categories, although convenient, would be more useful if we knew more about how closely animal activity conformed to the labels. Similarly, if we knew more about the degree of nocturnality or diurnality of a particular species, we would have increased understanding of the selective forces acting on it. To clarify the intensity of nocturnality or diurnality in lycosoid spiders, we measured activity in 46 spiders divided among three congeneric species of fishing spiders (Pisauridae) and five species of wolf spiders (Lycosidae), in an austere laboratory setting. Overall, the three pisaurid species, pooled, were less than half as active as the five lycosid species, also pooled. All three species of fishing spiders and four of the five species of wolf spiders were strongly nocturnal in their activity. Only one species, the wolf spider Piratula minuta (Emerton 1885), was diurnal. None of the individual spiders that showed statistically significant nocturnal or diurnal activity (31 of 31 lycosids, 14 of 15 pisaurids) was purely nocturnal or diurnal. In all individual cases except for a single ambivalent Dolomedes tenebrosus Hentz 1844 (Pisauridae), statistically strong nocturnality was accompanied by substantial activity during the light hours, and statistically strong diurnality was accompanied by substantial activity during the dark hours. We discuss the overall low variability in activity patterns among the fishing spiders in comparison to the much higher variability among the activity patterns of the wolf spiders, the common but not ubiquitous presence of ultradian periodicities in individual spiders, and the significance of the fact that none of the individual spiders was strictly nocturnal or strictly diurnal.

Although previous research suggests that undergraduates with untreated or undertreated attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms may have academic motives for stimulant medication misuse, no previous work has examined the relation of ADHD symptoms, controlling for comorbid oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), to misuse, or has explored how these symptoms are differentially related to motives for misuse. Among a sample of 900 students from one public university, the current study first tested whether increased ADHD symptomology (using the Current Symptoms Scale, CSS) was associated with an increased likelihood of misusing stimulant medication, controlling for comorbid ODD. We then examined whether those with increased ADHD symptomology were more likely to report academic motives for misuse. The prevalence rate of misuse in the past year was 22%. Participants who met symptom count criteria for ADHD (controlling for comorbid ODD) were 2.90 times more likely to misuse stimulant medication than those who did not. Among misusers, those who met ADHD criteria were also 2.80 times more likely to report academic motives for misuse. These results support that stimulant medication misuse is likely driven, in part, by inadequate or absent care for the executive functioning impairments associated with ADHD. Therefore, a greater focus on assessment and treatment of college students with ADHD symptoms is warranted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The prevalence rate of misuse in the past year was 23%. Symptoms of depression were significantly related to misuse; however, once symptoms of ADHD were included in the analysis, depression was no longer a significant predictor. Further, there was not a significant interaction between ADHD and depression, but symptoms of ADHD were significantly related to misuse. Conclusions/Importance: Results suggest that attention difficulties may be one of the most important factors in predicting stimulant medication misuse. Therefore, prevention efforts to reduce the misuse of stimulant medication would be most successful when targeting students with symptoms of inattention.

OBJECTIVEThe present study sought to examine the relations among disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs; ie, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], conduct disorder [CD], oppositional defiant disorder [ODD]), depressive symptoms, and marijuana use among a sample of late adolescents and emerging adults.METHODA total of 900 students (75.8% female, 80.3% Caucasian, Mage = 20) from a large public university completed an online survey.RESULTSFindings indicated that depressive symptoms mediated the relation between the marijuana use and past symptoms of ADHD, past diagnosis of ADHD, CD symptoms, CD diagnosis, and ODD diagnosis.CONCLUSIONDepressive symptoms represent a link between DBDs and marijuana use that is suggested, but not well documented in the existing literature. The current findings add to this evidence and suggest a need to assess individuals presenting with symptoms of DBDs for depressive symptoms, as this symptom pattern may result in a greater likelihood of marijuana use.

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This study illustrated the effect of varying the number of response alternatives in clinical assessment using a within-participant, repeated-measures approach. Participants reported the presence of current attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms using both a binary and a polytomous (4-point) rating scale across two counterbalanced administrations of the Current Symptoms Scale (CSS). Psychometric properties of the CSS were examined using (a) self-reported binary, (b) self-reported 4-point ratings obtained from each administration of the CSS, and (c) artificially dichotomized responses derived from observed 4-point ratings. Under the same ordinal factor analysis model, results indicated that the number of response alternatives affected item parameter estimates, standard errors, goodness of fit indices, individuals’ test scores, and reliability of the test scores. With fewer response alternatives, the precision of the measurement decreased, and the power of using the goodness-of-fit indices to detect model misfit decreased. These findings add to recent research advocating for the inclusion of a large number of response alternatives in the development of clinical assessments and further suggest that researchers should be cautious about reducing the number of response categories in data analysis.