UW Study Reveals Prescription Stimulants Don’t Benefit Non-ADHD Students

A new study from the Department of Psychology at the University of Wyoming finds that prescription stimulant medication does not improve neuropsychological functioning in college students without ADHD, despite widespread nonmedical prescription stimulant use for this purpose on college campuses.

The study, "Effects of Stimulant Medication on Neuropsychological Functioning in College Students without ADHD," was written by current and former UW psychology doctoral students John Vasko, Judah Warren Serrano, Tamara Abu-Ramadan and Emily Miller; UW psychology Professors Alison Looby and Cynthia Hartung; UW nursing Clinical Professor Nancy McGee; and UW kinesiology and health Associate Professor Derek Smith. The article appears in the journal Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.

"Stimulant misuse on college campus is widespread," Hartung says. "However, there is no evidence that stimulants help college students without ADHD. This appears to be a placebo effect. College students without ADHD did better on some measures of cognitive functioning when they took a pill regardless of whether it contained Adderall."

Stimulant medications are a Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for ADHD; however, those in emerging adulthood without ADHD often report obtaining and using stimulant medications without a prescription, hoping for cognitive enhancement and academic improvement. Taking these medications without a prescription is particularly common among college students, which often leads to consequences such as legal penalties, adverse physical side-effects and psychological issues.

The authors examined whether stimulant medication produced measurable cognitive or psychological benefits among college students without ADHD. Researchers designed the study to address limitations found in previous placebo-controlled stimulant research by incorporating a within-subject design -- an experimental setup where the same participants take part in every condition or treatment -- along with baseline comparisons, and both objective and self-report measures of neuropsychological functioning.

Twenty-one participants between the ages of 18 and 25 completed three sessions: a no-drug baseline session, a placebo pill session and a session involving a 10-milligram dose of amphetamine-dextroamphetamine immediate release medication, Adderall. For the two experimental sessions, they did not know whether the pill they ingested was a placebo or a stimulant. During each session, participants completed a series of neuropsychological assessments and self-report measures.

Researchers found no significant differences across sessions for the self-report measure and some objective measures of cognitive performance. However, on some cognitive measures, participants did better with the stimulant and placebo pill compared to the baseline. Thus, students did better when they took a pill regardless of whether the pill was a placebo or a stimulant.

The findings suggest that there is no pharmacological effect of stimulant medication for students without ADHD, and perceived cognitive enhancement among students without ADHD may be attributable to a placebo effect.

The researchers reported that the study contributes to growing evidence that stimulant misuse does not provide meaningful neuropsychological benefits for college students without ADHD -- and may help inform ongoing efforts to discourage nonmedical prescription stimulant use on college campuses.

"In addition to there being no evidence that stimulants help those without ADHD, it is unsafe and illegal to share your stimulants," Hartung says. "There have been a small number of sudden deaths in people who have undiagnosed heart problems."

For more information about the UW Department of Psychology, visit https://www.uwyo.edu/psychology.