Drug testing,drug treatment,and marijuana use: a fairness perspective

The authors conducted a random statewide telephone survey of 1,484 individuals to study the relationship between marijuana use (in terms of participants' history of marijuana use) and reactions to drug testing and to study 2 hypothetical drug-treatment policies. Job safety sensitivity was related to perceived fairness of drug testing for the participant's job, and more recent marijuana use was associated with more negative reactions. Safety sensitivity was related to perceived fairness of drug treatment. Organizations with voluntary treatment were more attractive than ones with monitored treatment. Marijuana use interacted with drug treatment policy type in predicting reactions to drug treatment. Results suggest that organizations should consider job and employee characteristics when developing a drug treatment policy.     

Parent-peer influence as a predictor of marijuana use.

Although there is some literature which discusses adolescent reference groups, none have utilized reference group theory to examine the relative impact of the parent and peer reference groups and to attempt to predict behavior among teenagers from this knowledge. This study attempts to correct this deficiency by examining the frequency of marijuana use in a nonrandom sample of college students from a large southwestern university. Ordinal type scales and tau-b provide a statistically strong degree of association between the type of reference group orientation and marijuana use. The results of this study show that the influence of the most salient reference group appears to be an important predictor of whether or not an individual may engage in the use of marijuana.     

Adolescent precursors of intensity of marijuana and other illicit drug use among adult initiators

This study examined (a) adolescent psychosocial risk factors for frequency (intensity) of marijuana use and for other illicit drug use among those who started using these drugs in early adulthood (adult initiators) and (b) the protective role of parent-adolescent relations in reducing or preventing drug use when adolescents enter early adulthood. The study's participants were male and female youth from a longitudinal prospective study. The participants' mean ages were 17 and 22 years at late adolescence and early adulthood, respectively. Independent measures assessed personality, parental, peer, and self-drug-use factors during late adolescence; dependent measures assessed frequency of marijuana use and other illicit drug use during early adulthood for initiators of the respective drug categories. The authors found that intensity of marijuana use was directly associated with the personality, parental, and self-drug-use domains and indirectly associated with the peer domain. Intensity of other illicit drug use was directly associated with personality and self-drug use. Analyses also revealed that some parent-adolescent relations factors buffered the effects of risk factors for both marijuana and other illicit drug-use intensity, whereas others enhanced the effects of protective factors against other illicit drug-use intensity. The results indicate that there are both commonalities and differences in precursors of marijuana and other illicit drug-use intensity among initiators of these drugs during early adulthood.     

Correlates of sensation seeking by heavy, chronic drug users

Product-moment correlations among number of drugs used and several measures of constructs related to sensation seeking were examined for four matched groups of chronic drug users and two supplementary groups of nine persons each. Number of drugs used correlated positively with all scores on the Sensation Seeking Scales, the Extraversion and Neuroticism Scales of the Eysenck Personality Inventory, and the Change Seeker Index. The pattern is consistent with the proposition that a need for stimulation or change underlies experimentation with a large number of chemical substances. The general pattern of correlations among tests resembled that reported by other investigators. The construct validity of the General Score from the Sensation Seeking Scales is enhanced by these findings. The data suggest that this score measures much the same construct as the Change Seeker Index.     

Depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory-II among injecting drug users

This study conducts a confirmatory factor analysis of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) with a sample of 598 individuals who reported recent injecting drug use. Findings indicate that out of four models tested, the best model for this sample is a three-factor solution (somatic, affective, and cognitive) previously reported by Buckley, Parker, and Heggie. The findings that nearly 50% of participants provided BDI-II scores indicating significant depressive symptomatology reveals that these individuals are in need of treatment for their psychiatric symptoms as well as substance use. Somatic symptoms are endorsed more strongly than affective or cognitive symptoms of depression, suggesting a possible, but yet poorly defined, relationship between depressive symptomatology and drug use that centers on shared somatic symptomatology.     

Internet access and use among homeless and indigent drug users in Long Beach, California.

There has been a growing interest in using the Internet to access a variety of populations for prevention education and health care. It is not clear that this is viable for homeless and other marginalized populations. The purpose of this study was to describe Internet access and use among a sample of homeless and indigent drug users. A brief questionnaire was developed to assess computer ownership, use, email, and Internet access and use. Participants were recruited through a community-based human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention program. 265 participants completed the questionnaire. While 55% had ever used a computer in their lifetime, only 25% had ever owned a computer, 24% had ever had their own email account, 33% had access to a working computer in the last 30 days, 10% had sent or received email in the last 30 days, and 19% had surfed or accessed information on the Internet in the last 30 days. Logistic regression predicting lifetime use of a computer showed predictive factors of having completed high school (Odds Ratio [OR] = 4.5; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 2.41, 8.38) and number of days used amphetamines in the last 30 days, per 5 days of use (OR = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.18, 2.27). Inversely related were age, per 5 years of age (OR = 0.78; 95% CI = 0.65, 0.93) and number of days used marijuana in the last 30 days, per 5 days of use (OR = 0.97; 95% CI = 0.76, 0.99). Very low access and usage suggest that Internet-based public health education models be reexamined for this population. The association with amphetamine use may indicate a facilitating effect of amphetamine by heightening awareness and increasing wakefulness.     

Peer isolation and drug use among white non-Hispanic and Mexican American adolescents.

The social-emotional characteristics and drug-use patterns of adolescents who reported having no friends (i.e., isolates) were compared to those of adolescents in drug-using and non-drug-using peer groups. Adolescents who did not have drug-using peers reported the lowest drug use and those with drug-using peers had the highest drug use, with adolescents who were isolated falling in between. Isolated youth reported more shyness, greater feelings of alienation, and lower social acceptance than did those in the other groups. Isolated youth also reported more anger and depression than did youth with non-drug-using peers, but less anger and equivalent depression when compared to adolescents with drug-using peers. Results are discussed in terms of social-emotional characteristics of isolated youth and risk/protective factors.     

The relationship of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other illegal drug use to delinquency among Mexican-American, black, and white adolescent males

This study examined the relationship between drug use and delinquent behavior among 348 high school males (154 whites, 172 Mexican-Americans, and 22 blacks) and 89 adjudicated delinquent males confined to a maximum-security facility for violent and repeat offenders (37 whites, 25 Mexican-Americans, and 27 blacks). Data were collected in the spring of 1986 using self-administered questionnaires. Analyses were performed separately for each racial subgroup. Simple correlations revealed that self-reported alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other illegal drug use were all significantly related to both minor and violent delinquency for all three racial groups. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the use of these substances accounted for 40% to 47% of the variance in minor delinquency and for 59% of the variance in violent delinquency among blacks, 53% of the variance in violent delinquency among Mexican-Americans, and 34% of the variance in violent delinquency among whites. The best predictors of violent delinquency were the frequent use of illegal drugs other than marijuana and use of tobacco, in that order, among Mexican-Americans; the frequent use of other illegal drugs, marijuana, and tobacco, in that order, for whites; and the frequent use of illegal drugs, followed by marijuana, for blacks.     

Posttraumatic stress, difficulties in emotion regulation, and coping-oriented marijuana use

In an effort to better understand factors that may explain prior findings of a positive relation between posttraumatic stress symptom severity and coping-oriented marijuana use motivation, the present study tested whether the association between posttraumatic stress symptom severity and marijuana use coping motives is mediated by difficulties in emotion regulation. Participants were 79 (39 women; M(age) = 22.29 years, SD = 6.99) community-recruited adults who reported (1) lifetime exposure to at least one posttraumatic stress disorder Criterion A traumatic event and (2) marijuana use in the past 30 days. Results indicated that difficulties in emotion regulation, as indexed by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004), fully mediated the association between posttraumatic stress symptom severity and marijuana use coping motives. Implications for the treatment of co-occurring posttraumatic stress and marijuana use are discussed.     

Anxiety sensitivity interacts with marijuana use in the prediction of anxiety symptoms and panic-related catastrophic thinking among daily tobacco users

The present investigation evaluated whether anxiety sensitivity interacted with marijuana use in relation to the prediction of panic-relevant variables among young adult tobacco smokers (n=265). Approximately 73% of the sample was composed of current marijuana smokers, with 78.5% of this sub-sample using marijuana more than once per week. As expected, after covarying cigarettes per day, alcohol use, and negative affectivity, the interaction between marijuana use and anxiety sensitivity predicted anxiety symptoms and agoraphobic cognitions. Partially consistent with prediction, the interaction between frequency of marijuana use and anxiety sensitivity predicted only anxiety symptoms. These results are discussed in relation to better understanding the potential role of regular marijuana use and anxiety sensitivity for panic-relevant emotional vulnerability among regular tobacco smokers.     

Delay discounting in e-cigarette users,current and former smokers

Background/Objective: Despite the fact that electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are being increasingly used as an alternative to smoking tobacco cigarettes, few studies have explored psychological factors associated with e-cigarette use. Prior studies aimed at exploring correlates of e-cigarette use have focused on sociodemographic and smoking-related characteristics. However, no previous work has examined psychological features such as impulsivity among e-cigarettes users. The main objective of this study was to compare impulsivity rates across four groups of participants: current e-cigarette users who were former smokers; current smokers; former smokers; and controls. Method: A sample of 136 participants completed a computerized delay discounting task for hypothetical monetary values. Results: Delay discounting was greater among e-cigarette users than former smokers. E-cigarette users also showed an intermediate discounting that did not differ from smokers and controls. Moreover, delay discounting was significantly greater among current smokers compared to former smokers and controls. Conclusions: Taken together, our results extend previous research on delay discounting by providing evidence on impulsivity levels among current e-cigarette users for the first time.     

Reasoning deficits among illicit drug users are associated with aspects of cannabis use

Deficits in deductive reasoning have been observed among ecstasy/polydrug users. The present study seeks to investigate dose-related effects of specific drugs and whether these vary with the cognitive demands of the task. One hundred and five participants (mean age 21.33, SD 3.14; 77 females, 28 males) attempted to generate solutions for eight one-model syllogisms and one syllogism for which there was no valid conclusion. All of the one-model syllogisms generated at least one valid conclusion and six generated two valid conclusions. In these six cases, one of the conclusions was classified as common and the other as non-common. The number of valid common inferences was negatively associated with the aspects of short-term cannabis use and with measures of IQ. The outcomes observed were more than simple post-intoxication effects since cannabis use in the 10 days immediately before testing was unrelated to reasoning performance. Following adjustment for multiple comparisons, the number of non-common valid inferences was not significantly associated with any of the drug-use measures. Recent cannabis use appears to impair the processes associated with generating valid common inferences while not affecting the production of non-common inferences. It is possible, therefore, that the two types of inference may recruit different executive resources, which may differ in their susceptibility to cannabis-related effects.     

Age of onset of marijuana use and executive function

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 26(3) of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (see record 2011-29227-001). Figure 1 should have been presented in color. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Marijuana (MJ) remains the most widely abused illicit substance in the United States, and in recent years, a decline in perceived risk of MJ use has been accompanied by a simultaneous increase in rates of use among adolescents. In this study, the authors hypothesized that chronic MJ smokers would perform cognitive tasks, specifically those that require executive function, more poorly than control subjects and that individuals who started smoking MJ regularly prior to age 16 (early onset) would have more difficulty than those who started after age 16 (late onset). Thirty-four chronic, heavy MJ smokers separated into early and late onset groups, and 28 non-MJ smoking controls completed a battery of neurocognitive measures. As hypothesized, MJ smokers performed more poorly than controls on several measures of executive function. Age of onset analyses revealed that these between-group differences were largely attributed to the early onset group, who were also shown to smoke twice as often and nearly 3 times as much MJ per week relative to the late onset smokers. Age of onset, frequency, and magnitude of MJ use were all shown to impact cognitive performance. Findings suggest that earlier MJ onset is related to poorer cognitive function and increased frequency and magnitude of MJ use relative to later MJ onset. Exposure to MJ during a period of neurodevelopmental vulnerability, such as adolescence, may result in altered brain development and enduring neuropsychological changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Self-monitoring and sex as moderator variables in the statistical explanation of self-reported marijuana and alcohol use

Self-monitoring and sex are examined as likely moderators of some of the known effective predictors of self-reported use of marijuana and alcohol. The theory of self-monitoring implies that in comparisons between low and high self-monitors, dispositional predictors account for more of the variance in reported use among low self-monitors and environmental predictors account for more of the variance among high self-monitors. With the two classes of predictors established via principal-components analysis and with subgroups defined by scores on Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale, data from 807 college students showed that self-monitoring does not affect the action of either dispositional or environmental predictors. Thus, the self-monitoring construct promises explanatory leverage that in these tests, the scale is not able to deliver. When subgroups are defined by sex, analyses of reported alcohol use yield small but significant moderator effects: Women's use is more predictable from environmental variables, whereas men's use is more predictable from dispositional variables. These effects are consistent with the conclusions of recent meta-analyses of results from studies of sex differences in conformity to group pressures.     

Dissemination of psychoactive substance information by innovative drug users.

Internet-based drug information may be relayed by innovative drug users, a group of individuals who use the web to learn about a new drug, experiment with that substance, and then disseminate their knowledge and experiences to others. We investigated the mechanisms adopted by innovative drug-using adolescents to distribute Internet drug information and experiences to peers, the size and geographic distribution of the receiving group, and the age at which innovative drug users began to disseminate drug information. Method: Cross-sectional survey of adolescents recruited by a respondent-driven sampling method. Of 18 innovative drug users, 17 reported using instant messaging (IM) to disseminate drug information and experiences to peers. The average age at which respondents adopted IM for this purpose was 16 years. Fifteen of 17 described using a distribution list with as many as 200 individuals who received only drug information. Ten respondents instant messaged drug information to online peers greater than 250 miles distant; nine respondents attached links to online drug resources (including www.erowid.org). This study has identified that IM plays an important role in the dissemination of Internet-based drug information by individual innovative drug users into larger social networks. Pediatricians should consider assessing IM use in drug abuse evaluations and recommending that parents of children with drug abuse problems should consider suspending IM services as a means of truncating the delivery of reinforcing drug information.     

Attempted suicide, self-harm, and violent victimization among regular illicit drug users

Relationships among attempted suicide, nonsuicidal self-harm, and physical assault were examined in 400 regular users of heroin and/or psychostimulants. Twenty-eight percent had episodes of nonsuicidal self-harm, 32% had attempted suicide, and 95% had been violently assaulted. The number of suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-harm incidents were correlated (ρ = 0.44). There were also significant correlations between the number of assaults and nonsuicidal self-harm incidents (ρ = 0.17), and suicide attempts (ρ = 0.27). The mean age onset for non-suicidal self-harm (18.9 yrs) was significantly younger than that of initial suicide (22.3 yrs). The age at initial physical assault (16.0yrs) was significantly younger than that of nonsuicidal self-harm and initial suicide attempt. Screening for all forms of violence appears warranted when determining suicide risk for this population.     

Social representations used by the parents of Mexican adolescent drug users under treatment to explain their children's drug use: gender differences in parental narratives

The aim of this study was to explore the social representations used by the parents of adolescent drug users to explain the onset of drug use. Differences in explanations between the parents of male and female adolescents were also explored. Sixty parents who accompanied their children to four rehabilitation centers in 2004 completed two semi-structured questionnaires. In addition, indepth interviews were applied to a subsample. The explanation of the drug use was carried out through two social representations: the neglectful family and the son or daughter as an inexperienced teen. The parents-son model was well structured; however, the parents-daughter was unstructured, which suggests a higher resonance in the familial group.     

Concern for appropriateness as a moderator variable in the statistical explanation of self-reported use of alcohol and marijuana

Two studies examine the Concern for Appropriateness Scale (Lennox & Wolfe, 1984) as a likely moderator of dispositional and environmental variables associated with self-reported use of alcohol and marijuana by college and precollege students. In Study 1, data from 408 upper division students show that concern score interacts significantly with religiosity in analyses of use of both drugs, but not with any of 11 other dispositional variables nor with drug-specific environment predictors in analyses of use of either drug. In Study 2, data from 242 recent high school graduates show that concern score interacts significantly with religiosity and drug-specific environment in the explanation of alcohol use but not in the explanation of marijuana use. All of the significant interactions are in the predicted direction. Results therefore suggest that the concern scale is valid for some of its intended purposes.