Date of Award

January 2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dmitri Poltavski

Abstract

The use of prescription stimulant medications, such as Ritalin and Adderall, has increased dramatically over the past two decades (Zuvekas & Vitiello, 2014). Particularly concerning to public health officials has been the escalation of college students who report nonmedical prescription stimulant use (NPS). Studies have identified cognitive enhancement (i.e., increased concentration, etc.) as the primary motive for college students to engage in NPS (DeSantis et al, 2011; Smith & Farah, 2011). Additional findings suggest individuals involved with Greek organizations and/or individuals who maintain lower cumulative grade point averages (GPA) report significantly higher rates of NPS than Non-Greek and/or higher GPA peers (McCabe et al., 2005). More recent studies have implicated low academic self-efficacy and high academic procrastination as individual risk factors for NPS (Looby et al., 2015; Sattler et al., 2014). Thus, the current study used a binary logistic regression analysis, with an enter procedure, to test the hypothesis that Greek Involvement, low cumulative GPA, high academic procrastination, and low academic self-efficacy for study would significantly predict NPS for academic purposes in an undergraduate sample. Results indicated a statistically significant overall prediction accuracy of 65.0% (χ2(8, N=140)=17.059, p=0.030). The model accounted from 26% of the variability in the prediction of NPS for academic purposes. Significant individual predictors included GPA (Wald χ2=10.510, p=0.001, OR=0.236), Greek Involvement (Wald χ2=3.797, p=0.051, OR=0.380), and academic procrastination (Wald χ2=3.562, p=0.059, OR=1.078). Limitations of the study include combining three motives for NPS use to operationalize ‘academic purposes’ and the small sample size.

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