Prescribing the problem: a multi-theoretical approach to predicting illicit stimulant use at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Abstract

Illicit prescription stimulant use by college students has been a rapidly growing problem across college campuses throughout the United States in the past decade. Students are abusing drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin at an alarming rate for academic improvement, recreational use and in some cases as a dieting agent. Past research has focused largely on the amount of students abusing these drugs and has neglected using criminological theory to determine what type of student uses these prescription stimulants and why they began using. To address this gap in literature, this researched examined survey data from a Midwestern university in Minnesota. It was found that variables from both social learning theory and social control theory predicted the illicit use of stimulants. School importance was not found to be a key predictor in stimulant use. These results are valuable in understanding illicit prescription stimulant use and demonstrate the need for further research using criminological theory.