Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

1292

Date

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Psychology

Committee Chair

James Murphy

Committee Member

Meghan McDevitt-Murphy

Committee Member

Charles Blaha

Abstract

Nonmedical use of prescription opioids among college students is an underinvestigated phenomenon. Few studies have examined the etiology or factors associated with nascent prescription opioid misuse. The current investigation assessed substance-free activity reinforcement, activitiy engagement, and anhedonia in a sample of 54 college students who reported nonmedical use of prescription opioids compared to demographically similar controls. Self-reported substance-free sexual reinforcement measures indicated that opioid use was associated with greater substance-free sexual reinforcement. Behavioral choice measures indicated that opioid users chose to view drug-related images at a higher rate than drug-free images. Although there were no group differences on self-reported anhedonia symptoms, a behavioral measure of anhedonia indicated that opioid users rated objectively pleasant images as less pleasant comapared to the control group. College students who report drug use and deficits in anhedonic response to drug-free stimuli may be at risk for diminished engagement in a variety of alternative behaviors.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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