TITLE:
Stimulant Engagement in Higher Education: An Empirical SEM Approach among Undergraduates
AUTHORS:
Joyce Dogenereba, Abubakari Iddrisu, Ernest Bachela Mbawini, Musah Konlan
KEYWORDS:
Reliability, Convergent Validity, Composite Reliability
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.13 No.4,
April
1,
2026
ABSTRACT: Stimulant utilization is increasing among university students globally due to pressure to improve their academic performance. The current work looks at the link between stimulant knowledge, attitudes toward use and academic pressure among undergraduates at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR). The study adopted two psychological theories, Planned Behaviour and Strain, and employed the cross-sectional questionnaire for data collection. Data were obtained from 234 undergraduates and analysed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in IBM SPSS Amos version 26. Findings revealed that stimulant knowledge positively predicts attitudes toward intension to use, while academic pressure enhances motivation to use stimulants. Additionally, results indicate that attitudes toward stimulant use significantly influence students’ motivation to use stimulants at the University. It is recommended that the university management provide academic support services, as well as workload management strategies, to help reduce students’ motivation to use stimulants.