The use of cognitive enhancing substances and academic stress

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This study investigated relationships between reported academic stress, caffeine consumption, and illicit prescription stimulant use, as a means of better identifying students likely to use illicit prescription stimulants. Linear regression was used to identify the relationship between reported caffeine use in milligrams, reported frequency of caffeine use, and academic stress. Wald stepwise logistic regression was used to identify demographic and behavioral variables that predict illicit prescription stimulant use. The results suggest there is a significant relationship between academic stress and caffeine use: the number of caffeinated beverages reported consumed, and the amount of milligrams of caffeine reported consumed per week were correlated with the illicit use of prescription stimulants. There was no significant relationship between academic stress scores and the illicit use of prescription stimulants. Frequency of caffeine products consumed, gender, and cumulative grade point average all demonstrated small predictive qualities towards reported illicit prescription stimulant use in the sample.