Making the Grade: How User/Nonuser Prototypes and Academic Performance Outcomes Influence Nonmedical Prescription Stimulant Use Cognitions
Open AccessNonmedical prescription stimulant (NPS) use, or taking an unprescribed stimulant (e.g., Adderall), with the goal of enhancing academic performance is an understudied and growing problem among college students. Despite numerous health risks, using NPS to study is common on campuses with lifetime rates up to 35% (Arria et al., 2017). The rising prevalence of NPS use on college campuses signals a need for interventions to prevent and reduce use. Findings from my preliminary experiment demonstrated that altering prototypes (the typical person who engages in a certain behavior) of NPS users and nonusers and the academic outcomes (success or failure) they experience from accepting or declining NPS for studying affected prototype perceptions, beliefs about NPS use, and NPS use decisions. Specifically, this study found that nonusers were rated more favorably than users regardless of their academic performance. Participants also reported greater beliefs about the effectiveness of NPS for academic improvement when exposed to a user who experienced a positive academic outcome. Additionally, participants who read about a user who appeared to benefit from use had greater willingness to use than those exposed to a nonuser who performed well. Finally, moderated mediation was found such that exposure to an NPS user who performed well led to increased willingness to use via greater belief that stimulants are effective. The present research replicates and extends the preliminary research and combines concepts from three psychological frameworks, including Social Cognitive Theory, the Prototype/Willingness Model, and Social Comparison Theory, to test how stories about NPS use or nonuse affect cognitions that drive college students’ decisions to use for academic purposes. This research targets outcome expectancies and prototypes of NPS users and nonusers to determine causal pathways leading to decisions to use while also exploring the moderating effects of social comparison orientation (SCO). The current study uses the same 2 (prototype: user or nonuser) by 2 (academic outcome: performed well or poorly on exams) between-subjects experimental design as the preliminary study but also examines other dependent variables and the influence of SCO. A total of 214 undergraduate students (Mage=22.88) participated via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Participants were randomly assigned to read about a student of the same gender who either used or refused an offer to use NPS while studying and then did better or worse than expected on their midterms. Outcome measures were prototype perceptions, beliefs about NPS use, social norms, outcome expectancies, and NPS use decisions (i.e., refusal likelihood, willingness, and intentions). Main findings centered on nonuser prototype perceptions. Nonusers were perceived more favorably than users in both performance conditions. Unlike the preliminary study, the study revealed no interactive effects of prototype and academic outcome on the belief that NPS are an effective study aid or on willingness to use. Additionally, SCO did not moderate the influence of either independent variable. Overall, findings suggest the potential benefit of nonuser prototypes in prevention messaging.
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