Substance use to enhance academic performance among Australian university students

Mazanov, Jason; Dunn, Matthew; Connor, James; Fielding, Mai-Lee

doi:10.1016/j.peh.2013.08.017

Cited by 51 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Overall, the prevalence of prescription enhancement drug use was relatively low and consistent with the limited previous studies on Australian samples (Mazanov et al 2013;Partridge et al 2012). In this study, 6.32% of individuals reported lifetime use of one or more prescription CE drugs listed for the purposes of study-related enhancement.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Prevalence rates within Europe appear lower: in a study of high school and university-aged students in Germany, lifetime prescription stimulant use for the purposes of enhancement was shown to be a mere 1.3% (Franke et al 2011), while found that 12% of their sample of Swiss university students had used prescription CEs in their lifetime to enhance their academic performance. In the only current direct prevalence study among university students in Australia, Mazanov et al (2013) reported a 10% lifetime prevalence rate of prescription stimulant use by students, with 48% of these individuals reporting use specifically for the purposes of study-related enhancement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently, studies have moved beyond simply charting enhancement drug prevalence rates at universities to further understand the related factors that compel students to use CEs (Mazanov et al 2013;Schelle et al 2015;Wolff and Brand 2013). This has lead researchers to broaden their understanding of CE and to examine common underlying psychological factors, such as personality (Sattler and Schunck 2016); perfectionism (Stoeber and Hotham 2016); and stress (Ford and Schroeder 2009;Forlini et al 2015;Maier et al 2013;Wolff and Brand 2013) as potential predictors of drug use of this type.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cognitive Enhancement and Coping in an Australian University Student Sample

2017

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Cognitive enhancement (CE) agents are those purported to improve or augment aspects of cognition such as working memory, creativity, and executive function in healthy individuals. CE by university students looking to improve their academic performance, particularly through the use of pharmacological agents (or nootropics), has become an area of increasing interest for researchers. However, studies on the prevalence of, and motivations behind, students' CE use at Australian universities are limited. This study aimed to contribute a new sample of prevalence data, as well as corroborate previous qualitative research that has suggested that emotion-focused and avoidant coping styles may make students more susceptible to utilizing CE drugs. A sample of N=633 individuals was recruited to complete the BCognitive Enhancement and Student Lifestyle Survey^online. The key questions of interest concerned students' enhancement drug usage habits, usage motivations, and coping styles. Analyses found that 6.32% of students indicated lifetime use of prescription CE agents for the purposes of study-related enhancement. Furthermore, dysfunctional coping strategies were associated with an increased likelihood of both lifestyle and prescription CE drug use. Findings from this study refine current understandings of enhancement drug use in Australia and are contextualized in regard to potential avenues for on-campus health interventions and regulatory opportunities. In particular, helping students to maintain manageable stress levels through identifying less harmful coping strategies may prove useful.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cognitive Enhancement and Coping in an Australian University Student Sample

2017

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“…In our sample, they were only consumed by respectively 1.5% and 0.8% of the participants in our sample. This is much lower than what has been reported in Switzerland (5.8%) 16 (P <0.001), Iran (4.9%-8.7%), 17,18 Australia (7.7%), 14 or United States (11.3%-18%).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 58%

(Mis)use of prescribed stimulants in the medical student community: Motives and behaviors. A population-based cross-sectional study

Fond¹,

Gavaret²,

Llorca³

et al. 2016

European Neuropsychopharmacology

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“…9,10 In addition, the illicit use of prescription ADHD medications has gained increasing interest among students in Republic of Korea and other countries. [11][12][13][14] Although most ADHD patients use their medications appropriately, the increased number of prescriptions may increase the illicit use of these drugs for nonmedical purposes. 15 The Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is concerned that these ADHD medications are the most commonly abused drugs among teenagers and that the use of these psychostimulants may play a role in the development of drug addiction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simultaneous Determination of Methylphenidate, Amphetamine and their Metabolites in Urine using Direct Injection Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Kwon¹,

Suh²,

In³

et al. 2014

Mass Spectrometry Letters

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Nonmedical use of prescription stimulants such as methylphenidate (MPH) and amphetamine (AP) by normal persons has been increased to improve cognitive functions. Due to high potential for their abuse, reliable analytical methods were required to detect these prescription stimulants in biological samples. A direct injection liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and implemented for simultaneous determination of MPH, AP and their metabolites ritalinic acid (RA) and 4-hydroxyamphetamine (HAP) in human urine. Urine sample was centrifuged and the upper layer (100 µL) was mixed with 800 µL of distilled water and 100 µL of internal standards (0.2 µg/mL in methanol). The mixture was then directly injected into the LC-MS/MS system. The mobile phase was composed of 0.2% formic acid in distilled water (A) and acetonitrile (B). Chromatographic separation was performed by using a Capcell Pak MG-II C18 (150 mm × 2.0 mm i.d., 5 µm, Shiseido) column and all analytes were eluted within 5 min. Linear least-squares regression with a 1/x weighting factor was used to generate a calibration curve and the assay was linear from 20 to 1500 ng/mL (HAP), 40-3000 ng/mL (AP and RA) and 2-150 ng/mL (MPH). The intra-and inter-day precisions were within 16.4%. The intra-and inter-day accuracies ranged from -15.6% to 10.8%. The limits of detection for all the analytes were less than 4.7 ng/mL. The suitability of the method was examined by analyzing urine samples from drug abusers.

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Substance use to enhance academic performance among Australian university students

Cited by 51 publications

References 44 publications

Cognitive Enhancement and Coping in an Australian University Student Sample

Cognitive Enhancement and Coping in an Australian University Student Sample

(Mis)use of prescribed stimulants in the medical student community: Motives and behaviors. A population-based cross-sectional study

Simultaneous Determination of Methylphenidate, Amphetamine and their Metabolites in Urine using Direct Injection Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

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