Cannabis has been found to be the most prevalent illicit substance used among college students. It has also been found one of the most commonly reported motives is coping. The current study examines predictive ability of tolerance for specific negative affective states in terms of cannabis use along with coping-oriented cannabis use motives.
The study included 416 undergraduate students reporting cannabis use during the previous 30 days. Marijuana use was illegal in the study state. The negative affectivity subscale from the positive affect negative affect schedule measure was used to assess tendency to experience negative affective states. The tolerance of negative affective states scale (TNASS) was used to assess the degree participants can handle specific negative affective states. For this measure, participants are given a definition of tolerance and then asked how tolerant they are of 6 specific emotions such as anxiety and anger. Finally, the Comprehensive Marijuana Motives Questionnaire measured 12 motives for cannabis use such as enjoyment, coping, social anxiety, and others.
Females were found to report greater negative affectivity and males reported higher tolerance of sadness and fear. Negative affectivity was negatively associated with all TNASS subscales and positively correlated with coping motives. Negative affectivity was not found to have any correlation to frequency of cannabis use. Frequency of use was found to be negatively correlated with tolerance of sadness, anxiety, fear, and aner along with being positively correlated with coping motives. Finally, TNASS subscales except for disgust were negatively correlated with coping motives. All of these findings point to the conclusion that cannabis users who have trouble handing sat mood sates may use more frequently and may be using to cope with this mood state.
Take Away: The current study examines predictive ability of tolerance for specific negative affective states in terms of cannabis use along with coping-oriented cannabis use motives. The study included 416 undergraduate students reporting cannabis use in the previous 30 days. Measures included the negative affectivity subscale from the positive affect negative affect schedule measure, the tolerance of negative affective states scale (TNASS), and the Comprehensive Marijuana Motives Questionnaire. Negative affectivity was negatively associated with all TNASS subscales and positively correlated with coping motives. Frequency of use was found to be negatively correlated with tolerance of sadness, anxiety, fear, and aner along with being positively correlated with coping motives. Findings point to the conclusion that cannabis users who have trouble handing sat mood sates may use more frequently and may be using to cope with this mood state.