Masters Thesis

The Role of Marijuana Use in the Relationship between Stress Response and Cognitive Functioning

Marijuana is the number one illicit substance used in the United States, particularly among college age adolescents. Learning is paramount to college success, and marijuana use has known negative effects on cognitive performance, which could adversely affect learning. Additionally, college students experience high levels of chronic and acute stress, which pose another risk factor for cognitive impairment. Literature examining the link between marijuana use and stress response is scarce and yields conflicting results. Some evidence indicates that heightened stress leads to increased marijuana use, while other research has found that more marijuana use leads to increased stress. The current study addressed the knowledge gap in the relationship between marijuana use and stress response, and how marijuana use moderates the relationship between stress response and cognitive functioning. For the current study, 68 undergraduates completed the Cold Pressor Task (CPT) to induce stress and a battery of neurocognitive performance tasks before and after the CPT to assess cognitive functioning. It was hypothesized that marijuana users would have an increased stress response to the CPT as demonstrated by increased heart rate and salivary cortisol compared to non-using controls. It was also hypothesized that marijuana users would perform worse than non-users at baseline on neurocognitive performance tasks. Finally, it was hypothesized that marijuana use would moderate the relationship between stress response and cognitive functioning. Results indicated that non-users and marijuana users did not differ in stress response nor cognitive functioning at baseline. Further it was found that marijuana only moderated the relationship between heart rate and recognition discrimination. These findings contribute to the literature investigating the effects of marijuana use on cognitive functioning and stress response and address a gap in the literature looking at the role of marijuana use in the relationship between stress response and cognitive functioning. However future research is necessary to better understand these relationships and how they can impact user’s health and life.

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