(244) Perceived Susceptibility, Severity, and Intentions Regarding Stimulant Misuse: A Survey of the US General Public

Objective : Prescription and non-prescription stimulant misuse are rising concerns in the United States amongst multiple age groups. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to better understand perceived susceptibility to, severity of, and intentions regarding stimulant misuse among younger and older adults.

Methods: Adults ≥18 residing in the US were recruited for a cross-sectional, anonymous online survey using Amazon Mechanical Turk with $5 participation incentives. The survey instrument was adapted from B.A. Kinman (2018) and the Health Belief Model. Primary outcome measures were assessed via 5-point Likert-type scales (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree), including: 1) perceived susceptibility to prescription (8-items) and non-prescription (5-items) stimulant misuse; 2) perceived severity of prescription (8-items) and non-prescription (4-items) stimulant misuse; and 3) intentions regarding prescription (5-items) and non-prescription (4-items) stimulant misuse. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and differences in mean scale scores between younger adults (≤44) and middle-aged/older adults (>44) were assessed using Mann-Whitney U tests (alpha=0.05).

Results: Of 303 survey respondents, 48.2% were female and 80.2% White with a mean age of 43.65 years (60.7% younger adults). Overall, mean[SD] perceived susceptibility to (prescription:3.87[0.64], non-prescription:3.76[0.73]) and severity of (prescription:3.92[0.64], non-prescription:4.45[0.62]) stimulant misuse were high. However, compared to middle-aged/older adults, perceived severity of prescription stimulant misuse was lower among younger adults (3.84[0.66] versus 4.05[0.59]; p=0.006). Furthermore, although intentions were low overall (prescription:1.63[0.66], non-prescription:1.35[0.62]), younger adults had higher intentions to misuse prescription (1.72[0.72] versus 1.49[0.54]; p=0.008) and non-prescription (1.42[0.68] versus 1.24[0.49]; p=0.024) stimulants.

Conclusions: Perceived severity of prescription stimulant misuse was lower and prescription and non-prescription intentions were higher among younger adults compared to middle-aged/older adults. Future studies should explore influential factors leading to and strategies to overcome these age-related disparities.