In the eyes of young college men, it's more
unethical to use steroids to get an edge in sports than it is to use
prescription stimulants to enhance one's grades, according to new research
published by the American Psychological Association.
And students who had
themselves used stimulants without a prescription were more inclined to see
such drug use as acceptable, according to the findings, which were published
online in the APA journal Psychology
of Addictive Behaviors. This is one of the first studies to compare
perceptions of off-label prescription drug use with perceptions of steroids performance
enhancers.
"This
is consistent with the idea that using performance enhancers is viewed as less
ethical in the sporting world than in the academic world," said the
study's lead author, Tonya Dodge, PhD, of George Washington University.
"Interestingly, the students in our study considered off-label prescription drug use as more
effective for success than using steroids."
Approximately
1,200 college freshmen (73 percent white) at Pennsylvania State University
answered a questionnaire that presented two scenarios. One described
"Bill," a sprinter for
his college track team who does not have a lot of time to train before the
championship meet and is worried he won't be able to improve. He gets steroids
from a friend and ends up performing better than expected and wins the
championship race.
The
second scenario presents "Jeff," a college student facing midterm
exams who is worried that his grades in class may be low. He doesn't have much
time to study so he gets some Adderall, a prescription stimulant, from a friend
who tells him it will help him focus at exam time. Jeff takes the pills and
ends up getting better midterm grades than he expected.
After
reading both scenarios, the students were asked how strongly they agreed or
disagreed with four statements: "Bill/Jeff is a cheater for using
steroids/Adderall," and, "Taking steroids/Adderall was necessary for
Bill/Jeff to do well."
The
students were also asked if they had ever misused prescription stimulant drugs,
such as Adderall, Ritalin or Dexedrine, or if they had ever used steroids. Less
than 1 percent of the sample reported having ever used steroids while about 8
percent said they had misused prescription stimulants in the last 12 months.
This compares to 8 percent to 34 percent of college students who have reported
misusing prescription stimulants and 1.5 percent of adolescents and young
adults who have misused anabolic steroids.
The
researchers also asked the men if they had played a sport in high school to
determine if that would affect their judgments.
Participants
significantly rated Bill, the steroid user, as more of a cheater than Jeff, the
prescription drug user. This difference got bigger if the students reported
having misused prescription stimulants themselves in the past or if they had
played a sport.
Overall,
the students were more likely to consider Jeff's Adderall use more necessary to
succeed than Bill's steroid use regardless of whether they had misused
prescription stimulants in the past or had played a sport. "One reason
students may have felt Adderall was more necessary than steroids for success is
because people may believe intelligence is less malleable than athletic
ability. This view of intelligence might have led the students in this study to
believe that taking Adderall would increase intellectual capacity," said
Dodge. "This research can help mold future prevention efforts around
off-label prescription stimulant use
in the academic world."
More
information: "Judging
Cheaters: Is Substance Misuse Viewed Similarly in the Athletic and Academic
Domains?" Tonya Dodge, PhD, George Washington University and Skidmore
College; Kevin J. Williams, PhD, University at Albany, State University of New
York; Miesha Marzell, PhD, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation; Rob
Turrisi, PhD, Pennsylvania State University; Psychology of Addictive Behaviors,
online, April 2012.
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