Induced negative affect's impact on self-reported cannabis use, expectancies, and problems

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Addiction Research

Background:

• Substance use disorders and affective disturbances frequently co-occur.
• Negative affect (NA) is linked to substance use, but NA may bias self-reported substance use due to recall and reporting limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of experimentally induced negative affect (NA) on the reporting of cannabis-related variables.
• To determine if NA influences cannabis expectancies and problem severity assessments.

Main Methods:

• Over 700 participants completed baseline demographics and affect measures.
• Participants were randomly assigned to a negative affect (NA) induction or a control condition.
• Post-induction, cannabis expectancies, problems, and use were assessed.

Main Results:

• The NA induction successfully increased NA and decreased positive affect compared to the control group.
• Participants in the NA induction group reported significantly higher negative cannabis expectancies and more cannabis problems.
• These effects persisted even after controlling for age and education.

Conclusions:

• Negative affect (NA) can bias self-reporting of cannabis use and related problems.
• Clinicians and researchers should consider the potential impact of NA on assessment accuracy and research findings.
• Further research is needed to understand and mitigate affect-related reporting biases in substance use studies.