a Department of Psychology , Palo Alto University , Palo Alto , California , USA.
Subst Use Misuse. 2018 Dec 6;53(14):2359-2367. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2018.1474228. Epub 2018 Jun 29.
With increasing legalization of medicinal and recreational cannabis, use is on the rise. Research suggests individuals may be able to guess cannabis user status based upon appearance; however, these findings utilized a small sample of photographs that was not balanced on user status or gender. Further, no studies examined whether raters with cannabis experience are better at judging others' cannabis use, or what physical features they use to make these judgments. This study explored these factors using a larger, balanced photograph database.
An American sample (n = 249, 48.6% female, mean age = 35.19 years) rated 36 photographs (18 cannabis users, 18 nonusers) balanced on gender and age on the likelihood that the photographed individuals use cannabis, producing 8964 ratings. Respondents also reported physical features considered in their ratings, as well as their own cannabis use history.
As hypothesized, photographs of users received higher ratings on the Marijuana Use Likelihood Index relative to nonusers. Further, results revealed a gender by rater user status interaction, indicating that raters with no previous cannabis experience rated males higher than females, while raters with cannabis experience did not demonstrate this rating discrepancy. Cannabis use explained over 9% of the variance in ratings across all photographs.
Results suggest individuals do rate cannabis users as more likely to be users, relative to nonusers, based upon appearance alone. These findings have important implications, not only for research on chronic cannabis use effects, but also for social and achievement factors such as potential stigma.
随着医用和娱乐用大麻合法化程度的提高，其使用量也在上升。研究表明，人们可能能够根据外表来猜测大麻使用者的身份；然而，这些发现使用的照片样本较小，且在使用者身份和性别方面不平衡。此外，没有研究检验是否有大麻使用经验的评估者更善于判断他人的大麻使用情况，或者他们使用哪些身体特征来做出这些判断。本研究使用更大、平衡的照片数据库来探讨这些因素。
一项美国样本（n=249，48.6%为女性，平均年龄=35.19 岁）对 36 张照片（18 名大麻使用者，18 名非使用者）进行了评估，这些照片在性别和年龄上平衡，评估了照片中个体使用大麻的可能性，共产生了 8964 个评分。受访者还报告了他们在评分中考虑的身体特征，以及他们自己的大麻使用史。
正如假设的那样，使用者的照片在大麻使用可能性指数上的评分高于非使用者。此外，结果显示了评估者使用者身份的性别与评估者之间的交互作用，表明没有以前大麻使用经验的评估者对男性的评分高于女性，而有大麻使用经验的评估者则没有表现出这种评分差异。大麻使用情况解释了所有照片评分中超过 9%的差异。
结果表明，个体仅凭外表就会将大麻使用者评定为更有可能使用大麻，而不是非使用者。这些发现不仅对慢性大麻使用影响的研究具有重要意义，而且对社会和成就因素（如潜在的污名）也具有重要意义。
