First- and third-year pharmacy students' attitudes toward cheating behaviors

Objectives. This study was conducted to investigate the attitudes towards cheating of first- and third-year pharmacy students and to relate this information back to the descriptive characteristics of student respondents. Methods. Eight hundred forty-four pharmacy students completed the attitudes toward cheating scale in the fall of 2002. Ordered logistic regression was used to analyze the data and descriptive statistics were employed to summarize the information. Results. The statistically significant model indicated the following: (1) the probability of a female student holding a conservative or moderately conservative attitude toward cheating was 56%, (2) the probability of an older student possessing a conservative or moderately conservative attitude toward cheating was 58%, (3) the probability of a student with a high GPA holding a conservative or moderately conservative attitude toward cheating was 51%. Conclusion. Pharmacy students guided by intrinsic motivations possess more conservative attitudes toward cheating than students driven by extrinsic motivations. Additionally, successful students may be less likely to cheat.