Student papers pick up study on misuse of prescription stimulants
The more that students think peers are misusing prescription stimulants, the more that number will be likely to grow, the authors said.
Student newspapers are covering study published this summer on perceptions around prescription stimulants such as ADHD medicine.
The Indiana State University newspaper is the latest college newspaper to cover a study showing that students perceived about 30 percent of their peers were misusing prescription stimulants when the actual reported rate is 17 percent.
If more students think their peers are misusing prescription stimulants such as ADHD medicine Adderall, then others might be more prone to use it, the authors said.
“If we can correct that misperceived norm, we might actually see that that could have an impact on people’s decision to use or not use,” UW medicine psychiatrist Jason Kilmer, and lead on the study, told the paper.
The research was conducted through surveying 2,989 students at seven U.S. universities during the 2015-2016 academic year. Kilmer is assistant director of Health & Wellness for Alcohol and Other Drug Education in the Division of Student Life at the University of Washington.
Kilmer partnered with the University of Maryland and the Coalition to Prevent ADHD Medication Misuse on the study.
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