title: Young adult cannabis users report greater propensity for risk-taking only in non-monetary domains.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Though substance use is often associated with elevated risk-taking in real-world scenarios, many risk-taking tasks in experimental psychology using financial gambles fail to find significant differences between individuals with substance use disorders and healthy controls. We assessed whether participants using marijuana would show a greater propensity for risk-taking in distinct domains including, but not limited to, financial risk-taking.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the current study, we assessed risk-taking in young adult (age 18-25) regular marijuana users and in non-using control participants using a domain-specific risk-taking self-report scale (DOSPERT) encompassing five domains of risk-taking (social, financial, recreational, health/safety, and ethical). We also measured behavioral risk-taking using a laboratory monetary risk-taking task.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Marijuana users and controls reported significant differences on the social, health/safety, and ethical risk-taking scales, but no differences in the propensity to take recreational or financial risks. Complementing the self-report finding, there were no differences between marijuana users and controls in their performance on the laboratory risk-taking task.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that financial risk-taking may be less sensitive than other domains of risk-taking in assessing differences in risky behavior between those who use marijuana and those who do not. In order to more consistently determine whether increased risk-taking is a factor in substance use, it may be necessary to use both monetary risk-taking tasks and complementary assessments of non-monetary-based risk-taking measures.
authors.affiliation: Center for Addiction Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, USA. Electronic address: jgilman1@partners.org.
authors.forename: Jodi M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gilman
authors.affiliation: Center for Addiction Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, USA.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Calderon
authors.affiliation: Center for Addiction Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, USA.
authors.forename: Max T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.affiliation: Center for Addiction Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, USA.
authors.forename: A Eden
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Evins
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*; D012201:Reward; D012309:Risk-Taking; D057566:Self Report / Q000191:economics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cannabis; Decision-making; Marijuana; Risk-taking; Substance use