An elastic self: Young adult’s use of pharmaceutical enhancement to thrive and perform better while in education

Abstract

The article examines young students’ (18-25 years) narratives about their well-being and about how they handle performance requirements while being in education. Their use of prescription medicine for non-medical purposes such as thriving or performing better is discussed in the light of an increasing performance- and efficiency pressure in the Danish education system. The analysis shows that the young students use medicine using very different logics and reservations. Some young people normalize their own use and see it as a legitimate way to handle experienced pressure and as an opportunity to differentiate themselves. Others think they should be able to manage without medicine. These young students talk about ethical dilemmas, and about a sense of cheating, and also, about moving away from an ‘authentic’ self. Many young people express a sense of insufficiency and great ambivalence about the social demands they are experiencing. The article discusses whether the increasing individualization in society, both in terms of choice and responsibility, may require too much of young people in education.