Cannabis Use, Anxiety, and Perceptions of Risk among Canadian Undergraduates: The Moderating Role of Gender
Bibliographic record
Abstract
ABSTRACT As nonmedical cannabis is now legal in Canada, it is important to understand the complex relationship between perceptions of risk, problematic cannabis use and mental health among young adults. Objectives: To assess whether perceptions of risk associated with cannabis relates to cannabis use among young adults. Moreover, we explored whether current symptoms of anxiety were also related to problematic use, and the role of gender in this relationship. Methods: Self-report surveys were completed by 1043 Carleton University students. Students completed several questionnaires assessing perceptions of risk associated with cannabis use, and cannabis use and anxiety symptoms. Results: Males were significantly more likely to rate some of the harms associated with cannabis use as less risky, and reported higher rates of cannabis use. We also found that problematic cannabis use was positively related to anxiety symptoms, and this relationship was moderated by gender such that greater cannabis use related to higher anxiety scores more strongly among females. Conclusions: Our study yields valuable information regarding how Canadian youth perceive the risks associated with cannabis use; critically, males are more likely to perceive minimal risk with use and are also more likely to use problematically. By contrast, cannabis use is more strongly related to anxiety among females. These results have important implications for education and outreach campaigns associated with the legalization of cannabis and cannabis products in Canada. Comme le cannabis non médical est maintenant légal au Canada, il est important de comprendre la relation complexe entre les perceptions du risque, la consommation problématique de cannabis et la santé mentale des jeunes adultes. Objectifs: Évaluer si les perceptions de risque associé au cannabis sont liées à la consommation de cannabis chez les jeunes adultes. De plus, nous avons examiné si les symptômes d’anxiété actuels étaient également liés à une utilisation problématique et le rôle du genre dans cette relation. Méthodes: Des sondages d’auto-évaluation ont été effectués par 1 043 étudiants de l’Université de Carleton. Les élèves ont rempli plusieurs questionnaires évaluant les perceptions du risque associé à la consommation de cannabis, à la consommation de cannabis et aux symptômes d’anxiété. Résultats: Les hommes étaient beaucoup plus susceptibles de juger certains risques liés à la consommation de cannabis comme moins dangereux et ont signalé des taux de consommation de cannabis plus élevés. Nous avons également constaté que la consommation problématique de cannabis était positivement liée aux symptômes d’anxiété, cette relation étant modérée en fonction du sexe, de sorte qu’une plus grande consommation de cannabis était associée à des scores d’anxiété plus élevés chez les femmes. Conclusions: Notre étude fournit des informations précieuses sur la manière dont les jeunes Canadiens perçoivent les risques associés à la consommation de cannabis. De manière critique, les hommes sont plus susceptibles de percevoir un risque minimal avec l’utilisation et sont également plus susceptibles de l’utiliser de manière problématique. En revanche, la consommation de cannabis est davantage liée à l’anxiété chez les femmes. Ces résultats ont des implications importantes pour les campagnes d’éducation et de sensibilisation associées à la légalisation du cannabis et des produits à base de cannabis au Canada.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.004 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.004 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.004 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".