1 in 10 Students Take Stimulants to Help Study

Preparing for high school exams can be grueling. As scores on various tests will ultimately determine where students go to college, an added pressure to rank high among classmates can cause incredible stress. Unfortunately, in order to prepare for tests, a new study suggests that many students are using prescription stimulants, otherwise known as "study drugs" to gain an academic edge. Worse yet, only one in 100 parents of teens 13 to 17 years old know that their teen is using them.

Study drugs typically refer to stimulant medications prescribed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Commonly prescribed medicines in this category include Adderall, Concerta, Ritalin, and Vyvanse.

Parents of teens who have been prescribed a stimulant medication for ADHD, just 1 percent said they believe their teen used a study drug to help study or improve grades, according to the latest University of Michigan Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.  However, recent national data from Monitoring the Future indicate that 10 percent of high school sophomores and 12% of high school seniors say they've used an amphetamine or stimulant medication not prescribed by their doctor.

Studies show that students studying may also take a friend's prescription with the hopes that they may improve their skills. Taking study drugs has not been proven to improve students' grades, and it can be very dangerous to their health, according to Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. "Taking these medications when they are not prescribed for you can lead to acute exhaustion, abnormal heart rhythms and even confusion and psychosis if the teens get addicted and go into withdrawal."

 "What we found in this poll is a clear mismatch between what parents believe and what their kids are reporting. But even though parents may not be recognizing these behaviors in their own kids, this poll also showed that one-half of the parents say they are very concerned about this abuse in their communities," Davis said.

White parents were most likely to say they are "very concerned" (54 percent), compared with black (38 percent) and Hispanic/Latino (37 percent) parents.

Despite this concern, only 27 percent of parents polled said they have talked to their teens about using study drugs. Black parents were more likely to have discussed this issue with their teens (41 percent), compared with white (27 percent) or Hispanic (17 percent) parents. 

"If we are going to make a dent in this problem, and truly reduce the abuse of these drugs, we need parents, educators, health care professionals and all who interact with teens to be more proactive about discussing the issue," he said.