RT Article
T1 Why Parents Misuse Prescription Drugs to Enhance the Cognitive Performance of Healthy Children: the Influence of Peers and Social Media
JF Journal of drug issues
VO 51
IS 3
SP 461
OP 482
A1 Sattler, Sebastian
A2 Mehlkop, Guido 1972-
A2 Bahr, Vanessa
A2 Betsch, Cornelia
LA English
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/175909482X
AB The mechanisms affecting parents’ misuse of prescription stimulant drugs to boost healthy children’s school performance are hardly unknown. Using four web-based factorial vignette surveys (2×2 between-subjects design experiment), we investigated the willingness of U.S. parents with school-aged children to medicate a fictitious 13-year-old child whose grades had declined. We examined mechanisms of informational and normative social influence on their decision-making: others’ behavior (NExperiment 1 = 359), others’ definitions (NExperiment 2 = 326), social control (NExperiment 3 = 325), and others’ experience (NExperiment 4 = 313). In addition, we explored the moderating role of influential sources (close friends vs. social media). Parents were more willing to engage in said behavior when others reported engagement in this behavior or positive drug experiences, especially if both influences were transmitted via social media. Others’ definitions and social control had no effect. Thus, social media might be a channel for the prevention of pharmacological cognitive enhancement.
K1 Social influence
K1 injunctive norm
K1 descriptive norm
K1 Substance misuse
K1 cognitive enhancement
DO 10.1177/0022042621994547