Table 1.
Characteristics of the study sample and values for the 12-month prevalence of pharmacological neuroenhancement distributed for sociodemographic and study-related characteristics.
| Variable | Value | χ2, p, V; categories with statistically significant differences between prevalence of ‘12-month PN users’ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total sample | 12-month PN users | PN non-users | ||
| All, n (%) | 3984 (100.0) | 416 (10.4) | 3384 (84.5) | |
| Gender, n (%) | ||||
| (a) Female | 2842 (71.3) | 263 (9.3) | 2458 (86.5) |
χ2 = 21.6, p < 0.001, V = 0.052; a-b |
| (b) Male | 1110 (27.9) | 146 (13.2) | 903 (81.4) | |
| (c) Diverse | 32 (0.8) | 7 (21.9) | 23 (71.9) | |
| Age, range (mean ± SD) | 16–73 (23.8 ± 4.3) | 18–52 (23.6 ± 3.9) | 16–73 (23.7 ± 4.3) | |
| Semester, range (mean ± SD) | 1–45 (7.2 ± 4.8) | 1–24 (6.6 ± 4.5) | 1–45 (7.2 ± 4.8) | |
| Age# | ||||
| (a) Younger or equal 23 years | 2243 (56.4) | 233 (10.4) | 1929 (86.0) | χ2 = 12.1, p = 0.002, V = 0.055 |
| (b) Older than 23 years | 1737 (43.6) | 182 (10.5) | 1452 (83,6) | |
| First year, n (%) | ||||
| (a) Yes | 650 (16.3) | 79 (12.2) | 554 (85.2) | χ2 = 9.1, p = 0.010, V = 0.049 |
| (b) No | 3228 (81.0) | 320 (9.9) | 2747 (85.1) | |
| Field of study, n (%) | ||||
| (a) STEM | 720 (18.1) | 65 (9.0) | 628 (87.2) |
χ2 = 22.6, p = 0.031, V = 0.053; a-b; b-f; e–f |
| (b) Social sciences, media or sport | 717 (18.0) | 89 (12.4) | 598 (83.4) | |
| (c) Philosophy, humanities or cultural sciences | 803 (20.2) | 89 (11.1) | 674 (83.9) | |
| (d) Medicine | 528 (13.3) | 51 (9.7) | 439 (83.1) | |
| (e) Law or economics | 512 (12.9) | 63 (12.3) | 432 (84.4) | |
| (f) Aspiring teachers | 614 (15.4) | 50 (8.1) | 537 (87.5) | |
| Degree, n (%) | ||||
| (a) Bachelor | 2086 (52.4) | 254 (12.2) | 1734 (83.1) |
χ2 = 39.3, p = 0.025, V = 0.061; a-b; a-d; b-c; c-d |
| (b) Master | 844 (21.2) | 63 (7.5) | 751 (89.0) | |
| (c) State examination | 876 (22.0) | 91 (10.4) | 738 (84.2) | |
| (d) Doctorate | 139 (3.5) | 5 (3.6) | 126 (90.6) | |
‘12-month PN users’: respondents who used pharmacological neuroenhancement within the last 12 months; ‘PN non-users’: respondents who did not use pharmacological neuroenhancement within the last 12 months; alphabetic characters ‘a-b’; ‘a-d’; ‘b-c’; ‘c-d’ represent significant differences (p < 0.05) in the prevalence of ‘12-month PN users’ between respective categories of that variable. Note that the category ‘more than 12 month ago’ for the prevalence of pharmacological neuroenhancement (n = 184) is not presented in this table; SD: standard deviation; #: age dichotomized at the median; STEM: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.