Psychostimulant drug abuse and personality factors in medical students

Background: Psychostimulants have a high abuse potential and are appealing to college students for enhancing their examination performance. Aim: This study was designed to examine the prevalence of psychostimulant drug abuse among medical students and to test the hypothesis that medical students who use psychostimulant drugs for non-medical reasons are characterized by a sensation seeking and aggressive-hostility personality and exhibit lower empathy. Methods: The Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy were completed anonymously on-line by 321 medical students in 2010-2011 academic year. Results: A total of 45 students (14%) reported that they had abused psychostimulant medications either before or during medical school. Results of multivariate analysis of variance provided support for one of our research hypothesis: students who reported using psychostimulant compared to the rest, obtained a significantly higher average score on the aggressive-hostility personality factor. No other significant differences were observed. Conclusion: Further research is needed to confirm the rate of psychostimulant drug abusers among medical students in other medical schools. In particular, it is desirable to examine if such psychostimulant drug abusers are likely to abuse other substances in medical school and later in their professional career.