Citation

Yan X, Bedillion MF, Claus ED, Huang-Pollock C, Ansell EB. Addict. Behav. Rep. 2024; 20: e100558.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.abrep.2024.100558

PMID

39027408

PMCID

PMC11252613

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The neurocognitive risk mechanisms predicting divergent outcomes likely differ between men and women who use cannabis recreationally. Increasingly, the use of descriptive distributions including the ex-Gaussian has been applied to draw stronger inferences about neurocognitive health in clinical populations. The current project examines whether the long tail of reaction times (RTs) in a distribution, as characterized by the ex-Gaussian parameter tau which may represent difficulty with the regulation of arousal, predicts problematic cannabis use 6 months later in those who use cannabis recreationally, and whether sex moderates these prospective associations.

METHOD: Young adults (ages 18-30, mean age 20.5 years, N =159, 57.2% women, 69.2% Caucasian) who recreationally used cannabis either occasionally (at least once per month) or frequently (three times or more per week) completed the Stroop Color-Word Task at baseline. Ex-Gaussian parameter tau was estimated for each participant. Self-report of hazardous cannabis use (CUDIT-R) and dysregulation of negative (DERS) and positive emotions (DERS-Positive) were obtained at baseline and 6-month follow-up.

RESULTS: For those with larger tau at baseline, being a man (but not a woman) was associated with increased difficulty regulating positive emotions concurrently (b = -0.01, F (1,159) = 5.48, p = 0.02), and with hazardous cannabis use six months later (b = -0.007, F (1,159) = 4.42, p = 0.037) after controlling for baseline hazardous cannabis use.

CONCLUSIONS: Excessively long RTs during cognitive performance may help characterize men at risk for increased hazardous use, which contributes to understanding between-sex heterogeneity in pathways towards cannabis use disorders.

Keywords: Cannabis impaired driving

Language: en

Keywords

Emotion regulation; Sex differences; Ex-Gaussian; Hazardous cannabis use; Longitudinal outcomes