Work-related stress and cognitive enhancement among university teachers.
BACKGROUND
Working conditions of academic staff have become increasingly complex and occupational exposure has risen. This study investigates whether work-related stress is associated with the use of prescription drugs for cognitive enhancement (CE).


METHODS
The study was designed around three web-based surveys (n1 = 1131; n2 = 936; n3 = 906) to which university teachers at four German universities were asked to respond. It assessed past CE-drug use and the willingness to use CE-drugs as factors influencing future use. Overlap among participants across the surveys allowed for analyses of stability of the results across time.


RESULTS
Our study suggests a currently very low prevalence of CE-drug use as well as a low willingness to use such drugs. The results showed a strong association between perceptions of work-related stress and all measures of CE-drug use (when controlling for potential confounding factors). They also showed that past use of CE-drugs increased participants' willingness to use them again in the future, as did lower levels of social support. Two different measures showed that participants' moral qualms against the use of CE-drugs decreased their probability of using them.


CONCLUSIONS
The results increase our knowledge about the prevalence of CE-drug use and our understanding of what motivates and inhibits the use of CE-drug.
a International Institute for Empirical Social Economics , Stadtbergen , Germany.|b Faculty of Sociology , Bielefeld University , Bielefeld , Germany.
Constantin
C
Wiegel
b Faculty of Sociology , Bielefeld University , Bielefeld , Germany.|c Institute for Sociology and Social Psychology , University of Cologne , Cologne , Germany.|d Cologne Graduate School in Management, Economics and Social Sciences , University of Cologne , Cologne , Germany.
Sebastian
S
Sattler
e Department of Psychology , University of Freiburg , Freiburg , Germany.
Anja S
AS
Göritz
b Faculty of Sociology , Bielefeld University , Bielefeld , Germany.
Martin
M
Diewald
D000328:Adult; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D005178:Faculty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D018697:Nootropic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology
D018697:Nootropic Agents
cognitive enhancement; drug instrumentalization; moral perceptions; non-medical use of prescription drugs; social support; work-related stress