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
. 2019 Jun;33(4):412-419.
doi: 10.1037/adb0000445. Epub 2019 Mar 14.

Marijuana protective behavioral strategies and marijuana refusal self-efficacy: Independent and interactive effects on marijuana-related outcomes

Matthew R Pearson  1 , Adrian J Bravo  1 ; Protective Strategies Study Team
Affiliations

Marijuana protective behavioral strategies and marijuana refusal self-efficacy: Independent and interactive effects on marijuana-related outcomes

Matthew R Pearson et al. Psychol Addict Behav. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

Separately, research has identified use of marijuana protective behavioral strategies and marijuana refusal self-efficacy to be protective factors associated with less marijuana use and associated harms. To date, these factors have not been examined together. Using a large sample of college students recruited from 10 U.S. universities (n = 1,123), we examined the extent to which use of marijuana protective behavioral strategies and marijuana refusal self-efficacy have redundant, independent, or interactive effects on a wide range of marijuana-related outcomes using cross-sectional data. Across 9 marijuana-related outcomes, we found 1 significant buffering interaction (length of typical intoxication), 1 significant synergistic interaction (peak subjective intoxication), and 7 nonsignificant interactions (past month frequency, typical frequency, typical quantity, typical subjective intoxication, frequency of peak intoxication, negative consequences, and cannabis use disorder symptoms). Despite variability across distinct outcomes, on 8 of 9 of these outcomes, we found that individuals who reported high use of marijuana protective behavioral strategies and high levels of marijuana refusal self-efficacy demonstrated the lowest rates of marijuana use/harms. Our findings suggest that both of these factors are promising intervention targets, and future studies should examine distinct intervention strategies to modify use of marijuana protective behavioral strategies and marijuana refusal self-efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Conceptual model of how refusal self-efficacy and use of protective behavioral strategies relate to marijuana-related outcomes.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
A depiction of the interactions between refusal self-efficacy and use of protective behavioral strategies predicting marijuana-related outcomes
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adamson SJ, Kay-Lambkin FJ, Baker AL, Lewin TJ, Thornton L, Kelly BJ, & Sellman JD (2010). An improved brief measure of cannabis misuse: The Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test-Revised (CUDIT-R). Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 110, 137–143. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2010.02.017 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bandura A (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191–215. - PubMed
    1. Bandura A (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
    1. Bandura A (1994). Self-efficacy In Ramachaudran VS (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behavior (Vol. 4, pp. 71–81). New York: Academic Press.
    1. Bravo AJ, Anthenien AM, Prince MA, Pearson MR, & Marijuana Outcomes Study Team. (2017a). Marijuana protective behavioral strategies as a moderator of the effects of risk/protective factors on marijuana-related outcomes. Addictive Behaviors, 69, 14–21. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2017.01.007 - DOI - PubMed