The nonmedical use of prescription stimulants among students with high academic standing

Author

Megan L. Dwyer, James Madison UniversityFollow

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Date of Graduation

Spring 2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (BS)

Department

Department of Health Sciences

Advisor(s)

Katherine Ott-Walter

Abstract

College students report one of the highest rates of the nonmedical use of prescription stimulants (NPS). Research has shown that use is more common among students who have high levels of perceived stress, such as honors students. The purpose of this study was to determine whether honors students reported higher rates of NPS than their non-honors peers with high academic standing. It was hypothesized that honors students would report higher rates of use. The instrument used in this study was an email survey that was administered electronically through the online Qualtrics Survey system. The survey request was sent to 3,530 students and had an overall response rate of 27.0% (N = 1,216). A binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine whether being an honors student was a predictor of NPS. Class rank, race, and gender were also analyzed as predictors. The results did not support the hypothesis that NPS was more common among honors students; however, class rank and gender were determined predictors of use, x²(5) = 49.401, p < .05. Honors students may not have reported higher rates of NPS but the link between stress and NPS needs to be further investigated. Suggestions for future research were given.

Recommended Citation

Dwyer, Megan L., "The nonmedical use of prescription stimulants among students with high academic standing" (2015). Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019. 99.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/honors201019/99