Chang Yi-Chun, Rubey Robin L, Ladd Benjamin O
Department of Psychology, Washington State University Vancouver, Vancouver, WA.
Cannabis. 2025 Feb 1;8(1):21-39. doi: 10.26828/cannabis/2024/000275. eCollection 2025.
Limited research examines the effect of stress on behavioral economic constructs among individuals using cannabis. This study examined whether the effects of acute stress on delay discounting differed in terms of cannabis use status and whether cannabis demand changed after stress induction.
Participants were two groups ( 39 endorsing high-frequency cannabis use and = 48 not endorsing cannabis use) of young adults (75.86% female, 67.82% White, = 21.64 years). During an online Zoom session, participants completed a prestress assessment, the Trier Mental Challenge Test (TMCT) stress induction, and then a poststress assessment.
Subjective stress increased significantly across groups after stress induction ( < .001, ηp = .23); no group X time interaction was observed. There were no differences in delay discounting across time or groups. For the use group only, cannabis demand intensity ( = .006, = .50), but not other demand indices, significantly increased following the acute stress induction. Coping motives did not moderate the association between the change in subjective stress and the change in delay discounting or the change in any cannabis demand indices among the use group.
Cannabis demand might exert a more influential role than delay discounting in shaping decisions related to cannabis use while experiencing acute stress. However, the practical implications of this finding warrant further research due to the relatively small difference in hypothetical cannabis use observed. Study design limitations that could impact the findings or lead to null results are discussed to inform future research.
有限的研究探讨了压力对使用大麻的个体行为经济学结构的影响。本研究考察了急性压力对延迟折扣的影响在大麻使用状态方面是否存在差异，以及压力诱导后大麻需求是否发生变化。
参与者为两组年轻成年人（一组39人认可高频使用大麻，另一组48人不认可使用大麻）（女性占75.86%，白人占67.82%，平均年龄21.64岁）。在在线Zoom会议期间，参与者完成了压力前评估、特里尔心理挑战测试（TMCT）压力诱导，然后进行了压力后评估。
压力诱导后，各组主观压力均显著增加（p <.001，ηp =.23）；未观察到组×时间交互作用。延迟折扣在时间或组间没有差异。仅在使用组中，急性压力诱导后大麻需求强度显著增加（p =.006，d =.50），但其他需求指标没有变化。应对动机并未调节使用组中主观压力变化与延迟折扣变化或任何大麻需求指标变化之间的关联。
在经历急性压力时，大麻需求在塑造与大麻使用相关的决策中可能比延迟折扣发挥更有影响力的作用。然而，由于观察到的假设性大麻使用差异相对较小，这一发现的实际意义值得进一步研究。讨论了可能影响研究结果或导致无效结果的研究设计局限性，以为未来研究提供参考。
