IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v11y2014i3p3032-3045d33966.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Use of Neuroenhancement Drugs: Prevalence, Frequency and Use Expectations in Switzerland

Author

Listed:
  • Stéphane Deline

    (Alcohol Treatment Centre, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Av. Beaumont 21 Bis, Pavillon 2, Lausanne CH-1011, Switzerland)

  • Stéphanie Baggio

    (Institute for Social Sciences, University of Lausanne, Geopolis Building, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland)

  • Joseph Studer

    (Alcohol Treatment Centre, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Av. Beaumont 21 Bis, Pavillon 2, Lausanne CH-1011, Switzerland)

  • Alexandra A. N'Goran

    (Alcohol Treatment Centre, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Av. Beaumont 21 Bis, Pavillon 2, Lausanne CH-1011, Switzerland)

  • Marc Dupuis

    (Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Geopolis Building, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland)

  • Yves Henchoz

    (Alcohol Treatment Centre, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Av. Beaumont 21 Bis, Pavillon 2, Lausanne CH-1011, Switzerland)

  • Meichun Mohler-Kuo

    (Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Zurich, Hirschengraben 84, Zurich CH-8001, Switzerland)

  • Jean-Bernard Daeppen

    (Alcohol Treatment Centre, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Av. Beaumont 21 Bis, Pavillon 2, Lausanne CH-1011, Switzerland)

  • Gerhard Gmel

    (Alcohol Treatment Centre, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Av. Beaumont 21 Bis, Pavillon 2, Lausanne CH-1011, Switzerland
    Addiction Switzerland, Case Postale 870, Lausanne CH-1001, Switzerland
    Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College St., Toronto ON M5T 1R8, Canada
    University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK)

Abstract

Objective : The present study investigates the use expectations, prevalence and frequency of neuroenhancement drug (ND) use among the Swiss male population, separating college students from others. Methods: Young Swiss men were invited to participate in the Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors. A total of 5,967 participants responded to questions on six types of NDs (wakefulness medication, antidepressants, Alzheimer’s disease medication, Parkinson’s disease medication, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication, and beta-blockers). The frequency of use depending on five expectations (to enhance wakefulness, attention, memory, concentration and stress reduction) was analyzed for a twelve-month period. Results: (1) About 3% of the sample indicated use of at least one ND; (2) ADHD medication was the most prevalent; (3) The type of ND preferred differed depending on academic status (4). Quantitatively, over the year, college student users used ND much less frequently than other users. Conclusions: Prevalence of ND use is low in Switzerland relative to other countries such as the United States. Patterns of ND use differed depending on academic status, suggesting that while college student ND users tended to do so rarely (probably to enhance cognitive abilities for exams), non-college male users used other NDs more frequently (probably to “get high”).

Suggested Citation

  • Stéphane Deline & Stéphanie Baggio & Joseph Studer & Alexandra A. N'Goran & Marc Dupuis & Yves Henchoz & Meichun Mohler-Kuo & Jean-Bernard Daeppen & Gerhard Gmel, 2014. "Use of Neuroenhancement Drugs: Prevalence, Frequency and Use Expectations in Switzerland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:3:p:3032-3045:d:33966
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/3/3032/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/3/3032/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jacques Gaume & Valérie Carrard & Sylvie Berney & Céline Bourquin & Alexandre Berney, 2024. "Substance use and its association with mental health among Swiss medical students: A cross-sectional study," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 70(4), pages 808-817, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:3:p:3032-3045:d:33966. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.