Personal and perceived peer use and attitudes towards use of non-prescribed prescription sedatives and sleeping pills among university students in seven European countries

Lehne, Gesa; Zeeb, Hajo; Pischke, Claudia R.; Mikolajczyk, Rafael; Bewick, Bridgette M.; McAlaney, John; Dempsey, Robert C.; Hal, Guido Van; Stock, Christiane; Akvardar, Yıldız; Kalina, Ondrej; Orosová, Oľga; Aguinaga-Ontoso, Inés; Guillén-Grima, Francisco; Helmer, Stefanie M.

doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.06.012

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Overestimations of social norms have been evidenced for drinking sugar-sweetened beverages ( Perkins J.M. et al, 2010 ; Lally et al, 2011 ), eating unhealthy snacks ( Lally et al, 2011 ), using ‘smart drugs’ to improve academic performance at university ( Helmer et al, 2016b ), using non-medically prescribed sedatives and sleeping pills ( Lehne et al, 2018 ), engaging in distracted driving behavior ( Carter et al, 2014 ), risky sexual behaviors ( Lewis et al, 2007 ; McAlaney and Jenkins, 2017 ), as well as overestimating the rates of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies amongst peers ( Scholly et al, 2005 ). Misperceived social norms can influence perceptions of what is considered to be a healthy or attractive body image, such as misperceptions of peer desirability of thinness and muscularity ( Grossbard et al, 2011 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Appraisal of the Social Norms Approach as an Interventional Strategy for Health-Related Behavior and Attitude Change

2018

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The Social Norms Approach is a widely used intervention strategy for promoting positive health-related behaviors. The Approach operates on the premise that individuals misperceive their peers’ behaviors and attitudes, with evidence of under- and over-estimations of behaviors and peer approval for a range of positive and negative behaviors respectively. The greater these misperceptions, the more likely an individual is to engage in negative behaviors such as consuming heavier amounts of alcohol and other substances and reduce positive behaviors such as eating healthily and using sun protection. However, there are many complexities associated with the use of social norms feedback in interventions and empirical studies. Many social norms interventions do not attempt to change misperceptions of social norms or measure changes in normative perceptions pre- and post-intervention. This has led to a conflation of generic social norms interventions with those that are explicitly testing the Approach’s assumptions that it is misperceptions of peer norms which drive behavior. The aim of the present review was to provide a critical appraisal of the use of the Social Norms Approach as an intervention strategy for health-related behaviors, identify the current issues with its evidence base, highlight key opportunities and challenges facing the approach, and make recommendations for good practice when using the approach. There are three core challenges and areas for improved practice when using the Social Norms Approach. Firstly, improvements in the methodological rigor and clarity of reporting of ‘social norms’ research, ensuring that studies are testing the approach’s assumption of the role of misperceptions on behaviors are differentiated from studies investigating other forms of ‘social norms.’ Secondly, the need for a more explicit, unified and testable theoretical model outlining the development of normative misperceptions which can be translated into interventional studies. Finally, a need for a more robust evaluation of social norms interventions in addition to randomized controlled trials, such as the inclusion of process evaluations, qualitative studies of participant experiences of social norms feedback, and alternative study designs better suited for real-world public health settings. Such improvements are required to ensure that the Social Norms Approach is adequately tested and evaluated.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Appraisal of the Social Norms Approach as an Interventional Strategy for Health-Related Behavior and Attitude Change

2018

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“…Other studies have suggested similar misperceptions or overestimations of the use and acceptability of non-prescription stimulants (McCabe, 2008;Silvestri & Correia, 2016). These misperceptions are similar to those noted for other substances used by students (Perkins, Meilman, Leichliter, Cashin, & Presley, 1999), including alcohol (McAlaney et al, 2015, tobacco (Pischke et al, 2015), cannabis (Dempsey et al, 2016), other illicit substances (Helmer et al, 2014) and nonprescribed sedatives (Lehne et al, 2018). Perceptions, or "misperceptions', that smart drug use is more common and more accepted by one's peers may exert social pressure on students to match what they perceive the social norm is (Festinger, 1954).…”

Section: Social Norms and Social Acceptability Of "Smart Drug" Usementioning

confidence: 61%

“…Common illicit substances used to aid performance typically includes cannabis, followed by cocaine, other forms of amphetamines, speed and crystal methamphetamine (Lucke et al, 2018). There is also evidence that students may use non-prescribed sedatives and sleeping medications to improve next-day cognitive functioning as an aid to relaxation, known as "indirect cognitive enhancement" (Lehne et al, 2018;Maier et al, 2013), potentially in combination with non-prescribed stimulants.…”

Section: The Prevalence Of "Smart Drug" Use Amongst University Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychosocial Motivators of “Smart Drug” Use Amongst University Students

Dempsey

2020

Chemically Modified Minds

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University students' use of "smart drugs" during the course of their studies appears to be on the rise. "Smart drugs", more formally known as nootropics (noo = mind, tropic = to turn or change; Cakic, 2009;Giurgea & Salama, 1977), are substances which can be prescribed to improve mental performance, including memory recall, attention and concentration, amongst other cognitive abilities. Nootropic medications are commonly prescribed to reduce the cognitive deficits associated with a number of medically diagnosed conditions, including vascular dementia, stroke, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and schizophrenia. Whilst these substances may be legitimately prescribed to address cognitive impairments in clinical populations, there has been a notable increase in societal concern over the use of these substances by healthy individuals as means of improving their cognitive performance without a medical prescription. A key risk group for the nonprescribed use of these stimulant nootropic "smart drugs" are university students, who may use substances such as methylphenidate ("Ritalin"), wakefulness-promoting medications or eugeroics (e.g. modafinil), as well as various legal substances, nutraceuticals and dietary supplements, to improve their performance in their academic studies. The aim of this chapter is to briefly review the use of non-medically prescribed stimulant "smart drugs" by university/college students in higher education, focusing on the psychosocial motivators underlying students' use of smart drugs to improve academic performance, and an outline of potential interventions for reducing use in this population. This is a pre-print of the following chapter: Dempsey, R., Psychosocial motivators of "smart drug" use amongst university students, to be published in 'Chemically Modified Minds', edited by Matthew Hall, Mark Forshaw & Catherine Montgomery, to appear in 2020, to be published by Palgrave Macmillan, reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan.

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“…No que diz respeito aos hábitos de vida dos estudantes universitários, estudos apontam que há uma associação entre privação do sono e uso excessivo de álcool (Miller, DiBello, Lust, Carey & Carey, 2016). Somando-se a essa informação, pesquisas demonstram que o uso de sedativos e pílulas para dormir sem prescrição médica por parte dos estudantes universitários tornou-se um problema de saúde pública, havendo uma correlação entre ter uma percepção de que os colegas fazem uso abusivo e ter a tendência alta de usá-los ao longo da vida (Lehne, Zeeb, Pischke, Mikolajczyk, Bewick, McAlaney, Dempsey, Van Hal, Stock, Akvardar, Kalina, Orosova, Aguinaga-Ontoso, Guillen-Grima & Helmer, 2018). Destaca-se, ainda, o hábito de beber de forma solitária.…”

Section: B) a Percepção E O Conhecimento Em Relação Aos Riscos E Comounclassified

Percepção sobre uso de substâncias psicoativas em estudantes universitários: uma revisão integrativa

Lins

Barbosa

Ribeiro

2020

MPS

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A pesquisa buscou integrar o conhecimento relativo à percepção dos estudantes universitários em relação aos riscos no uso e abuso de substâncias psicoativas. Objetivou-se verificar se a percepção em relação ao risco poderia ser um fator que contribui para o uso, bem como a proximidade com os colegas e o pertencimento a grupos que façam uso dessas substâncias. Foram seguidos os passos de uma revisão integrativa. 27 estudos foram incluídos por estarem de acordo com os critérios estabelecidos. Os achados sugerem que há uma associação significativa entre a maneira como o estudante universitário percebe os riscos e o seu padrão de consumo de drogas, bem como a relação que ele estabelece com os pares e demais colegas. Outro aspecto relevante foi a evidência sobre o uso de substâncias que só podem ser adquiridas com prescrição médica e que são utilizadas de forma indiscriminada para o aumento do desempenho acadêmico.

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Personal and perceived peer use and attitudes towards use of non-prescribed prescription sedatives and sleeping pills among university students in seven European countries

Cited by 16 publications

References 27 publications

A Critical Appraisal of the Social Norms Approach as an Interventional Strategy for Health-Related Behavior and Attitude Change

A Critical Appraisal of the Social Norms Approach as an Interventional Strategy for Health-Related Behavior and Attitude Change

Psychosocial Motivators of “Smart Drug” Use Amongst University Students

Percepção sobre uso de substâncias psicoativas em estudantes universitários: uma revisão integrativa

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