Abstract
College students' perceptions of characteristics of sources of information about over-the-counter medications were obtained, and the relationship between information source characteristics and the likelihood to use that source for information was examined. A survey was administered to a sample of 789 college students at 16 colleges and universities nationwide. Students identified formal sources-physicians and pharmacists-as the most accurate, most expensive, most time-consuming, and least convenient source of OTC information. Informal sources-friends, family, and TV advertisements-were rated less accurate but better in convenience, expense, and time consumed scores. Regression analyses identified source accuracy and convenience ratings as simcant predictors of likelihood to use a particular information source.
