Acute Effects of Prescription Stimulant Medication on Cognition and Mood in College Students With and Without ADHD
University of Wyoming
Summary
The investigators will examine the acute effects of stimulant medication on executive functioning. The rationale for the proposed study is to examine the efficacy of stimulants for college students with ADHD and help prevent stimulant misuse among college students without ADHD. The working hypothesis is that stimulants, compared to baseline and placebo conditions, will improve executive functioning for college students with ADHD but not for college students without ADHD. Improvements on executive functioning measures (e.g., CPT-IP, Spatial Span) will be examined through 2 (ADHD vs. non-ADHD) x 3 (Baseline, Placebo, Stimulant) repeated measures ANOVAs. Follow-up analyses will include paired comparisons. Expected outcomes are to confirm these hypotheses and demonstrate the need for further study of stimulants. If confirmed, the results will provide pilot data for a larger NIH grant proposal aimed at further examining the acute effects of stimulants (i.e., improved cognitive functioning with stimulants) and comparing them to the acute effects of physical exercise (i.e., improved cognitive functioning immediately after exercise). The investigators expect this outcome to have an important positive impact because it can help support stimulant medication as an effective treatment for college students with ADHD (DuPaul et al., 2012). Additionally, demonstration that stimulants do not improve executive functioning for college students without ADHD can be used to help prevent and discourage stimulant misuse and diversion on college campuses (Hartung et al., 2013).
Description
Participants. The investigators will enroll 40 University of Wyoming (UW) and Laramie County Community College (LCCC) students including 20 with ADHD and 20 without ADHD (20 men, 20 women). Power analyses (G\*Power 3.1; Faul et al., 2007) indicated a sample of at least this size is needed to provide 80% power to detect medium effects. Participants will be recruited through several means including targeted email announcements, flyers, and SONA pre-screener data. Full exclusion criteria can be found in the "Eligibility" section below. Most notably, participants must stratify as being low risk f…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–29 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * Be currently enrolled either full time or part time as an undergraduate in a 2-year or 4-year college * Be between the ages of 18-29 * Be a native English speaker * ADHD Participants: Must report a prior diagnosis of ADHD and self-report five or more inattention (IA) symptoms on the DSM-5 Symptom Checklist on the pre-screener. * Healthy Participants: Must disavow ever being diagnosed with ADHD, report 3 or fewer IA symptoms and 3 or fewer hyperactivity/impulsivity (HI) symptoms on the DSM-5 ADHD Symptom Checklist in the pre-screener and are an age and sex match of an ADH…
Interventions
- DrugAdderall IR 10mg
At one of the experimental appointments, participants will be administered a stimulant medication. Following a wait period, the participants will complete executive functioning tasks of working memory and sustained attention.
- DrugPlacebo
Placebo
Location
- University of WyomingLaramie, Wyoming