title: Cannabis and related impairment: the unique roles of cannabis use to cope with social anxiety and social avoidance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Social anxiety appears to be a risk factor for cannabis-related problems. Socially anxious individuals are vulnerable to using cannabis to cope in social situations and to avoiding social situations if marijuana is unavailable. Yet, the relative impact of cannabis use to cope with social anxiety relative to use to cope with negative affect more broadly has yet to be examined.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study used the Marijuana to Cope with Social Anxiety Scale (MCSAS) to examine the incremental validity of using cannabis use to cope in social situations (MCSAS-Cope) and avoidance of social situations if cannabis is unavailable (MCSAS-Avoid) in a community-recruited sample of 123 (34.1% female) current cannabis users.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After controlling for age of first cannabis use, gender, alcohol and tobacco use, other cannabis use motives, and cannabis expectancies, MCSAS-Cope remained significantly positively related to cannabis use frequency and cannabis-related problems. After controlling for age of first cannabis use, gender, alcohol and tobacco use, and experiential avoidance, MCSAS-Avoid remained significantly related to cannabis problems but not frequency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present findings suggest that cannabis use to manage social forms of anxiety may be important to understanding cannabis use behaviors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current findings identify cognitive/motivational factors implicated in more frequent cannabis use and in cannabis-related impairment, which may be essential to inform efforts to further refine prevention and treatment efforts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
authors.forename: Julia D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Buckner
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zvolensky
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D009042:Motivation; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult