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- All Subjects: Motivation
Description
Marijuana is currently the mostly widely used illicit drug in the U.S., and has been for multiple decades (Johnston et. al., 2016). Despite a growing belief that marijuana use is not harmful, over 4 million Americans have met criteria for marijuana use disorders in the past year alone (CBHSQ, 2015). According to marijuana trajectory studies, about a third of marijuana users will end up quitting later in life, but some \u2014 such as those who meet criteria for dependence \u2014 have a much greater difficultly quitting. Therefore, by looking at marijuana users who were successful in quitting, and comparing them to ongoing adult marijuana users, factors that may assist in helping an individual quit \u2014 such as certain motivations for quitting \u2014 may be identified. To study these issues, data was collected from 507 participants from the Pittsburgh Youth Study. It was found that adolescents who used marijuana weekly for at least one year were likely to be ongoing marijuana users in adulthood and that adolescents who had a warm relationship with their primary caretaker were likely to have quit marijuana by adulthood. It was also found that Black participants were more likely to have legal, monetary, and religious reasons for quitting than were White participants. Furthermore, participants who used regularly in adolescence were likely to list legal reasons, as well as a concern that marijuana use was needed to feel normal. Finally, it was found that not a single motivation for quitting marijuana was associated with a shorter period of abstinence. The implications of these findings for motivations to quit marijuana are the focus of the discussion.
ContributorsGomez, Kira Elise (Author) / Pardini, Dustin (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Meier, Madeline (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Although the interpersonal (e.g., deceitful, manipulative, grandiose) and affective (e.g., lack of empathy/guilt) features of adult psychopathy have been associated with an increased risk for criminal activity (Boccio & Beaver, 2018; Hare, 1993; Porter, Birt, & Boer, 2001), there remains a subgroup of individuals with these features who are able to avoid being convicted of a serious crime. However, it remains unclear what factors differentiate individuals with high psychopathic traits who are convicted for serious offending from those who are not convicted. To address this gap, the current study aims to answer the following: 1.) Do economic, social, or intelligence factors differentiate convicted versus non-convicted individuals with high psychopathic traits? and 2.) Are non-convicted individuals with high psychopathic traits less likely to engage in self-report offending than convicted individuals with these traits? Data was drawn from the youngest and oldest cohorts of the Pittsburgh Youth Study (N=806), a longitudinal study that followed adolescent (ages 13-16) males from Pittsburgh, PA over 22 years in order to examine the development of delinquency, substance use, and mental health problems. Significant between-group differences were examined using ANOVA and chi-squared analyses. Results showed no difference between convicted and non-convicted men with high psychopathic traits in terms of intelligence or relationship quality. However, non-convicted men with high psychopathic traits were more likely to be employed and less likely to be on public assistance that men with high psychopathic traits. Further, high psychopathic trait non-convicted men were less likely to report adult offending than their convicted counterparts, but were more likely to offend than men with low psychopathic traits who were not convicted. These results suggest that men with high psychopathic traits who elude conviction exhibit better adult adjustment than men with these characteristics that have been convicted, even though they report engaging in adult offending.
ContributorsKrob, Casaundra Kendal (Author) / Pardini, Dustin (Thesis director) / Sweeten, Gary (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05