Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Jan-Feb;36(1-2):129-32.
doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2010.08.015. Epub 2010 Aug 25.

Social anxiety and marijuana-related problems: the role of social avoidance

Julia D Buckner  1 , Richard G Heimberg, Norman B Schmidt
Affiliations

Social anxiety and marijuana-related problems: the role of social avoidance

Julia D Buckner et al. Addict Behav. 2011 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Background: People with elevated social anxiety seem vulnerable to marijuana-related impairment. Yet little work has examined core facets of social anxiety that may be especially related to marijuana-related problems.

Method: The present study examined the relationships between current (past three months) marijuana-related problems and two aspects of social anxiety (fear in social situations and social avoidance) among current (N=102) marijuana users.

Results: Although both social fear and social avoidance were significantly correlated with marijuana-related problems, only social avoidance was uniquely related to marijuana problems (after controlling for social fear, sex, negative affect, alcohol problems, and marijuana use frequency). Sex moderated the relationship between social avoidance and marijuana-related problems such that men with greater social avoidance exhibited the greatest severity of marijuana-related problems.

Conclusions: Avoidance of social situations appears robustly related to marijuana-related problems. This finding has important implications for theoretical models that can inform treatment of co-occurring social anxiety and marijuana problems.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The interaction between social avoidance and sex in the prediction of marijuana-related problems. ***p < .001
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Agosti V, Nunes E, Levin F. Rates of psychiatric comorbidity among U.S. residents with lifetime cannabis dependence. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. 2002;28(4):643–652. doi: 10.1081/ADA-120015873. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aiken LS, West SG. Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage; 1991.
    1. Anthony JC, Warner LA, Kessler RC. Comparative epidemiology of dependence on tobacco, alcohol, controlled substances, and inhalants: Basic findings from the National Comorbidity Survey. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. 1994;2(3):244–268. doi: 10.1037/1064-1297.2.3.244. - DOI
    1. Buckner JD, Bonn-Miller MO, Zvolensky MJ, Schmidt NB. Marijuana use motives and social anxiety among marijuana-using young adults. Addictive Behaviors. 2007;32(10):2238–2252. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2007.04.004. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Buckner JD, Ecker AH, Cohen AS. Mental health problems and interest in marijuana treatment among marijuana-using college students. Addictive Behaviors. 2010;35(9):826–833. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2010.04.001. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types