Cannabis consumption in the United States continues to increase across nearly all population demographics creating a large demand for research concerning its effects on human health and well-being.  As cannabis decriminalization and legalization expand on a state-by state basis, the motivating factors and influences behind the substance’s use have become more delineated over time.  When assessing these factors, it is often useful to measure the expectancies of individuals and populations concerning cannabis consumption. 

The following study is an examination of a recently developed cannabis expectancy measure called the “Anticipated Effects of Cannabis Scale.”The measure development was composed of 2 different phases of sampling and assessment of 5 different cohorts of college students at a large southwestern university.  The first phase of the study involved participants responding to surveys which measured cannabis expectancies, consequences, relatedness, and valence/arousal.  Using this data, the research team performed exploratory factor analysis and subsequent confirmatory factor analysis before testing for variance.  The second phase of the study involved validation of the developed measures from the previous phase. Validity was assessed using bivariate correlation(s) and regression modelling.

Results of the multiphasic approach revealed positive cannabis expectancies to be correlated with cannabis use, with the converse found also to be true. High arousal negative expectancies were significantly correlated with increased cannabis-related consequences, in addition to increased symptomatology of cannabis dependency.  The researchers found the validity of the Anticipated Effects of Cannabis scale to be similar to other contemporary measures.  A particular limitation presented by the research team was a concern that the validity of the measure may not be consistent for cannabis-naïve individuals due to a lack of data for this demographic used in the samples.

Takeaway: the recently developed Anticipated Effects of Cannabis scale may be helpful in identifying individuals at risk for cannabis consequences, including potential dependency.  Additional analysis of the instrument, using larger sample sizes and a more diverse pool of user-histories, is necessary to further support the present findings.

Waddell JT, Corbin WR, Meier MH, Morean ME, Metrik J. The Anticipated Effects of Cannabis Scale (AECS): Initial development and validation of an affect- and valence-based expectancy measure. Psychological Assessment. 2021;33(2):180-194. doi:10.1037/pas0000881