The Anticipated Effects of Cannabis Scale (AECS): Initial development and validation of an affect- and valence-based expectancy measure.

Abstract

Prior research suggests that cannabis expectancies are related to cannabis misuse and problems. Although there are established measures of cannabis expectancies, existing measures have psychometric limitations and/or are lengthy. Existing measures typically have a two-factor structure of positive and negative expectancies, but recent conceptualizations of alcohol expectancies support a valence- (positive vs. negative) and arousal-based (high vs. low arousal) structure. Thus, the present study sought to test a similar structure for cannabis. Cannabis expectancy items underwent 2 preliminary studies, assessing item valance/arousal (n = 233) and relevance to cannabis (n = 124). A final pool of 76 items underwent exploratory factor analysis (n = 303), and remaining items underwent confirmatory factor analysis in a separate sample (n = 469). Lastly, an additional sample (n = 435) examined validity. Results suggested a 3-factor structure (general positive, high arousal negative, low arousal negative) for the 17-item Anticipated Effects of Cannabis Scale (AECS), which was invariant across cannabis use frequency, sex, and race/ethnicity. Positive expectancies were strongly associated with cannabis use, whereas low arousal negative expectancies were protective against cannabis frequency; high arousal negative expectancies were strongly associated with more negative consequences and dependence symptoms. In addition, the proposed interpretation of AECS test scores showed evidence of incremental validity relative to another abbreviated measure. The current study provides initial support for the AECS, a brief, psychometrically sound cannabis expectancies measure. The AECS captures the full range of cannabis effects and may be suited to test discrepancies between cannabis expectancies and subjective response. Additional research is needed to validate its structure and predictive utility.

Development and initial psychometric properties of the Cannabidiol Outcome Expectancies Questionnaire (CBD-OEQ).

“…Global Negative and No Effect desirability ratings moderated the relationship between endorsement ratings and CBD use outcomes, indicating that expectancy-desirability interactions may be more valuable predictors of CBD use behaviors for negative and no effect CBD outcome expectancies but appear to have limited utility for CBD positive outcome expectancies. Consistent with findings from the cannabis outcome expectancy literature (e.g., Buckner et al, 2013;Hayaki et al, 2010;Waddell et al, 2021), CBD-OEQ endorsement subscales concerning anticipated positive effects of CBD (i.e., Positive Mood, Sleep, Pain Relief, Harm Reduction) were significantly, positively associated with CBD-related outcomes. In contrast, the Global Negative subscale was significantly, negatively associated with CBD use behaviors.…”

“…First, consistent with prior research (e.g., Fedorova et al, 2021), the majority of our samples were comprised of non-Hispanic/Latin White females. Although outcome expectancy measures tend to be invariant across race, sex assigned at birth, and substance use frequency (e.g., Waddell et al, 2021), future work will benefit from the formal testing of measurement invariance or differential item functioning of CBD-OEQ subscales and items by demographic factors or use frequency. Second, we did not explicitly assess whether participants could distinguish between CBD and THC products, which may be important given that THC and CBD are often used together (e.g., Fedorova et al, 2021).…”

“…In line with other substance outcome expectancies work (Aarons et al, 2001;Schafer & Brown, 1991;Waddell et al, 2021), and to establish initial construct validity, we hypothesized that factor analyses would identify positive and negative factors and that positive endorsement subscales (i.e., how much an individual agrees or disagrees with a positive expected outcome) would be positively associated with CBD-related use behaviors, whereas negative subscales would be negatively associated with CBD-related use behaviors. We also hypothesized that CBD-OEQ endorsement subscales would explain additional variance in CBD-related outcomes above and beyond an existing cannabis outcome expectancy measure.…”

The anticipated effects of simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use: Initial development and preliminary validation.

“…Considering its recency, no other studies to date have used the AECS. Nevertheless, in the Waddell, Corbin, Meier, et al (2020) study, stronger positive expectancies from the AECS were associated with heavier use, stronger low arousal negative expectancies were associated with lighter use, and stronger positive and high arousal negative expectancies were associated with more cannabis dependence symptoms (Waddell, Corbin, Meier, et al, 2020). In both scale development papers, the AEAS (Morean et al, 2012) and AECS (Waddell, Corbin, Meier, et al, 2020) were associated with use outcomes above and beyond other established expectancy scales.…”

“…In addition, Morean et al (2016) found that high schoolers with high arousal positive expectancies reported heavier drinking and a higher number of maximum drinks, whereas high arousal negative expectancies were associated with more alcohol-related problems. Finally, two studies have found that overestimating high arousal positive effects is associated with heavier drinking (Morean et al, 2015; Waddell, Corbin, Meier, et al, 2020). These studies suggest that assessing arousal, in addition to valence, is important in understanding variation in expectancies and their relations with substance use outcomes.…”