Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Social anxiety and cannabis use are both prevalent and often co-occur. Moreover, researchers have found that undergraduates with high social anxiety report greater endorsement of using cannabis to cope with negative emotions (i.e., expectancies). Indeed, such explicit cognitions or “expectancies” are a chief determinant of usage; however, the role of implicit cannabis-related cognition among individuals with social anxiety is unknown. We will examine the relationship between social anxiety and cannabis use by examining the role of implicit automatic associations (concepts that are linked in memory) between social anxiety groups in predicting cannabis-related problems. We need to establish whether level of social anxiety predicts cannabis use, and if certain automatic associations in memory help explain this relationship. We will also investigate if these measures of automatic associations, in addition to self-report measures, help better predict cannabis-related problems than if we were to rely on either measure alone. We will screen and recruit undergraduate students from Trent University to complete an in-person experiment. To be eligible, students must report consuming cannabis within the last year, and report either low or high social anxiety. Participants will complete two computerized tasks measuring their automatic associations related to cannabis, in addition to completing online self-report questionnaires. This study will help improve cognitive behavioural models and evidence-based treatments of social anxiety disorder. Given the recent legalization and increased accessibility to cannabis in Canada, this research is particularly relevant in addressing public health concerns regarding both social anxiety and problematic cannabis use, in youth and adults.