Assessing motivations and gender as factors in college students' views of nonmedical prescription stimulant use

Introduction: Two prominent motivation categories of college student nonmedical prescription stimulant use (NMUPS) are for academic and recreational purposes. However, little research focuses on these motivations' association with college students' NMUPS views. Further, limited research assesses if user gender influences views. Methods: The current online scenario study implemented a 2 x 2 factorial design assessing 148 college undergraduates' (75% females; M-age = 19.18; SDage = 1.30) NMUPS views based on user motivation and gender. Participants reported their drug use stigmatization, prescription stimulant expectancies (ie, anticipated drug use beliefs and outcomes), and personal substance use. Results and Discussion: Results showed that user gender did not influence participants' NMUPS views; however, participants viewed academic use less negatively compared to recreational use, thus highlighting the need to educate students on the negative consequences of NMUPS, even when use is for academically related tasks. Furthermore, exploratory analyses showed drug use stigmatization and prescription stimulant expectancies predicted participant NMUPS views. Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1942005 .

Automated summary

This study explores the association between the motivations for college student nonmedical prescription stimulant use (NMUPS) and their views on this behavior, and assesses the influence of gender. The results show that gender does not influence views, but participants have a more positive attitude towards academic use, highlighting the need to educate students about the negative consequences of NMUPS. Additionally, drug use stigmatization and prescription stimulant expectancies are associated with participant views.