Literature Review

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Article 1: Psychosocial functioning among college students who misuse stimulants versus other drugs

           The article is on the misuse of prescribed stimulants among college campuses. To understand the issue a study was conducted on various college students who were grouped in four categories, those who do not misuse hard drugs or stimulants, those who misuse both stimulants and hard drugs, those who misuse stimulants but no other hard drugs and those who misuse hard drugs and no other stimulants. The rise in the number of young people who abuse the stimulants pushed for this study and the author of the article found a correlation between substance abuse and potential psychopathology and that most stimulants misusers show higher impulsive rates. To conduct the study college students aged 18-23 from a southeastern university were randomly selected with 57 students who shared their interest in the study, 1141 were eligible for the study. The results suggested that most of the misusers of the prescription stimulants were male and that there were links between the misused stimulants and the use of other drugs.

           Perhaps most notably, because all variables were measured at the same time, causality

cannot be inferred from any of the relationships observed. In particular, these results should not be taken as evidence of any temporally-ordered developmental mechanism, as many of these variables. This is the limitation of the study where it states that causality cannot be inferred. I picked this quote since it highlights one weakness of the study; every study has one (Cole& Hussong, 2020).

           Evidently, there is a relationship between those people who misuse prescription stimulants and those who abuse other substances. While it is important to discourage the misuse of prescription drugs the first step to tackle this misuse seems to be advocating of the risks associated with the issues of other drugs too.

Article 2: Judging Cheaters: Is Substance Misuse Viewed Similarly in the Athletic and Academic Domains?

           The article is on Prescription Stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall, they are usually prescribed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), unfortunately, recent studies have suggested that most college students abuse them and it is more likely by males than females. Claims have been made that those who misuse them do so for academic motives and not recreation motives. Also, the article introduces Anabolic steroids that are hormones related to testosterone, they have a medical purpose but are often abused to improve athletic performance, just like PS males abuse them more than females. The study participants were about 1200 students who were from a large university in the mid-Atlantic, they were selected after all those freshmen who were 25 years and lives on campus were sent an email invitation. From the study, it was noted that most students perceived those who had misused AS as less ethical than those who had misused PS and that the difference between the two became larger as past PS misuse increased. One notable AS prevention program, the Adolescents Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS) Prevention Program, reduces athletes’ beliefs in the appropriateness of using AS to win. This program is meant to make athletes aware that AS use to win does not justify it is important and I selected it because while talking to people about the harmfulness of such drugs to gain a competitive advantage such programs incorporated in athletes make it easier (Dodge et.al 2012).

            Lastly, the article has shed right on one of the issues where we see people considering one behavior more severe than the other even if both are harmful and unethical. It has helped me understand how this notion is prevalent in most college students and has made me aware of the ATLAS Program that I had no idea of its existence.

Article 3: Non-medical use of prescription stimulants among US college students: prevalence and correlates from a national survey

           There have been increases in the prescribing of psychoactive medications in the United States. This increases can be accredited to the increased awareness of the signs and symptoms of various disorders and the increase in the duration of treatment. Also, the users of prescription stimulants in The United States are higher than other countries just as the diagnosis of ADHD. Despite the diagnosis of most people with ADHD the numbers of the people being prescribed the stimulants increase have caught the public concern because if the non-medicinal use of such stimulants and the potential abuse of these drugs. The increase of non-medical use of prescription stimulants has been backed up by the college-based, national surveillance and national epidemiological studies in college students and young adults in America. To ascertain this conclusion a study was conducted using the data of 119 American 4-year universities and colleges in 39 states with 215 randomly selected students from each university or college. From the study, it was concluded that the number of students who had used the prescription stimulant has increased from the previous year and it was higher among males, white student’s members of sororities and fraternities and those with low grades.

           Despite gender differences in the prevalence of non-medical use, the results of the present study indicated that risk factors for non-medical use of prescription stimulants generally operated in a similar way for women and men. The quote states that the risks of taking the prescription stimulants did not vary between males and female, I selected this because it is an important point to help people become aware of similar consequences (McCabe et. al ,2005). 

           Lastly, just as the studies have indicated the number of young people using these prescription stimulants id increasing and this should be a wakeup call to everyone since the risks of this usage have not been determined but they are not attractive.

Article 4: Aided by Adderall: Illicit Use of ADHD Medications by College Students.

           The article claims that as of 2004 there was twenty percent of students who had used the prescription od ADHD for non-medical purposes, the evidence of these is not only research literature but also news articles. According to the author a 2009 article had claimed that the students used these drugs for studying which was worrying because of the potential of addiction. The article study focuses on the relationship between mental health and the motivation and prevalence of illicit use of ADHD. According to the author, ADHD is a disorder that interferes with development and is characterized by hyperactivity-impulsivity or ongoing inattention, it persists throughout one’s lifetime. Unfortunately, the number of young people being treated with the disorder is increasing. To ascertain these findings, the various literature review was done and out of a sample of 1,208 first-year college students without ADHD diagnoses, 18 .0% reported illicit use.

           Research has consistently shown that males report illicit use at significantly higher rates than females, this quote suggests that most people who abuse prescription stimulants and medications for ADHD are male. I selected this quote since it states one of the most important fact about the users of this drugs and shed light on an area that need more attention (Rolland and Smith,2017).

           Finally, it is clear that most young people rely on these drugs for recreational use and academic reasons, awareness on better study methods should be done to decrease the usage of this stimulant and the holding to the students to high standards should be evaluated too since it is one driving force.

Article 5: College student goals in the context of prescription stimulant misuse: An application of goals–plans–action theory

           The article’s point of emphasis is to examine the measures underlying to prevent college students from misuse of prescription stimulants. According to the article, this misuse of such prescriptions is a risk and that most people who provide these drugs are the friends of college students. Unfortunately, the communication among the students seems to encourage this behavior and the college environment seems to be a conducive environment for engaging in this misuse. The article suggests that the goal plan action theory has a three-step process, first, we have goals that are either primary which provides meaning for interactions or secondary which are broad and are recurrent. The second step is formulating plans to pursue these goals they can either precede or follow the engage decision depending on the goal alignment. The last step is the action which talks of the message that is communicated among individuals to attain the goals.

           GPA has been applied across a variety of influence interactions, including confronting peers about problem behavior, this is one area that the three process method has been applied. I choose this quote since it indicated one success of the approach to a peer issue and hence can be trusted to do the same to reduce the misuse of stimulants among college students (LaBelle & Ball, 2019).

           Lastly, as the author insists peer pressure plays a big role in the increased misuse of stimulants among college students and while this pressure cannot be related to the stimulants it pushed the students towards them to fit in with the friends. Luckily, by using the three-step process the influence can be dealt with thereby decreasing the usage of these stimulants.

References

Cole, V. T., & Hussong, A. M. (2020). Psychosocial functioning among college students who misuse stimulants versus other drugs. Addictive behaviors, 105, 106290.

Dodge, T., Williams, K. J., Marzell, M., & Turrisi, R. (2012). Judging cheaters: Is substance misuse viewed similarly in the athletic and academic domains?. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 26(3), 678.

LaBelle, S., & Ball, H. (2019). College student goals in the context of prescription stimulant misuse: An application of goals–plans–action theory. Communication Quarterly, 67(1), 76-99.

McCabe, S. E., Knight, J. R., Teter, C. J., & Wechsler, H. (2005). Non‐medical use of prescription stimulants among US college students: Prevalence and correlates from a national survey. Addiction, 100(1), 96-106.

Rolland, A. D., & Smith, P. J. (2017). Aided by Adderall: Illicit Use of ADHD Medications by College Students. Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council, 18(2), 41-77.