Measuring Protective Behavioral Strategies for Marijuana Use Among Young Adults

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective: Marijuana use can result in a variety of negative consequences, yet it remains popular among young adults and the general public at large. Combined with the growing empirical support for the benefits of medicinal marijuana as well as the steady increase in popular opinion regarding its legalization, it is of growing importance to identify strategies that may mitigate the harms related to marijuana use, reduce consumption levels, and limit resulting negative consequences among young adults who use marijuana. The purpose of this study was to develop and conduct initial psychometric analyses on a new scale, which we named the Protective Behavioral Strategies for Marijuana (PBSM) scale. Method: A sample of undergraduate college students who reported past-6-month marijuana use (n = 210) responded to the initial pool of PBSM items and completed measures of marijuana use, consequences from marijuana use, alcohol use, and protective behavioral strategies for alcohol. Results: Results from an iterative principal component analyses process yielded a single-factor structure with 39 items. The PBSM mean composite score negatively associated with marijuana use and consequences, with the strongest correlations evident for pastmonth users. The PBSM also significantly positively correlated with alcohol protective strategies. Conclusions: Protective behavioral strategies for marijuana appear to be a measurable construct that are related to marijuana frequency and consequences, and thus may be a useful component of intervention and prevention programs with young adults. More work testing the PBSM items with larger and more diverse samples of young adults is encouraged. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 77, 441-450, 2016)

Can I Use Marijuana Safely? An Examination of Distal Antecedents, Marijuana Protective Behavioral Strategies, and Marijuana Outcomes

“…Marijuana PBS use was assessed using the 39-item version of the PBSM (Pedersen et al, 2016) scale. This measure consists of behaviors individuals report engaging in while using marijuana to reduce marijuana-related problems (e.g., "avoid using marijuana in public places").…”

“…Although a large alcohol PBS field suggests that alcohol PBS use mediates the effects of a wide range of distal antecedents on alcohol-related outcomes, it is unknown whether marijuana PBS use would operate similarly. Based on mediation findings in the alcohol PBS literature (Bravo et al, 2015(Bravo et al, , 2016 and preliminary findings that marijuana PBS use is a protective factor associated with reduced marijuana-related harm (Pedersen et al, 2016), we expected that the associations between distal antecedents (i.e., sex, age at first use, impulsivity-like traits, and marijuana use motives) and marijuana outcomes (i.e., marijuana use frequency and consequences) would be mediated by marijuana PBS use. Generally, we expected that "protective" factors (e.g., female sex, premeditation, and perseverance) that are associated with greater marijuana PBS use would in turn be associated with less frequent marijuana use and fewer related consequences, whereas "risk" factors (e.g., younger age at first use, coping motives) associated with less marijuana PBS use would in turn be associated with greater marijuana use frequency and more related consequences.…”

“…Although there are several known risk (e.g., earlier age at first use and coping motives) and protective factors (e.g., self-regulation and female sex) of problematic marijuana use, research needs to go beyond examining only distal antecedents 1 and consider more proximal behaviors that may increase or decrease the negative consequences from using marijuana. Within the present study, we focus on marijuana protective behavioral strategies (PBS; Pedersen et al, 2016) as a proximal factor expected to a) relate to both frequency of marijuana use and marijuana-related negative consequences, and b) account for the effects of several known risk/ protective factors of problematic marijuana use.…”

“…Recently, Pedersen and colleagues developed the Protective Behavioral Strategies for Marijuana (PBSM) scale to probe marijuana PBS use (Pedersen et al, 2016). Similar to alcohol PBS, marijuana PBS include strategies that are related to limiting marijuana intake by setting consumption limits (e.g., "Having a set amount of times you take a hit of a marijuana joint"), avoiding behaviors that lead to more intoxication than one would like (e.g., "Avoid using marijuana in concentrated form [e.g., hashish, hashish/ honey oil, kief, marijuana butter/oil] to avoid getting too high"), and avoiding serious harm from impaired driving (e.g., "Use a designated driver [i.e., someone who has not used] after using marijuana").…”

Frequent marijuana use and driving risk behaviours in Canadian youth

“…Greater funding for education and designated driver campaigns for marijuana users could also reduce impaired driving. Engaging youth in creating and disseminating harm reduction strategies may also improve their impact (29,30).…”