Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Committee Director

James M. Henson

Committee Member

Matthew R. Pearson

Committee Member

Sarah J. Ehlke

Committee Member

Natalie M. Yarish

Abstract

Cannabis use among young adults in the United States has reached unprecedented levels in recent years. Previous research suggests that the escalating legalization of cannabis across the U.S. has made cannabis use more socially acceptable as well as accessible (e.g., expanding routes of administration) to young adults. However, less is known about how combined individual-level factors (i.e., knowledge and attitudes) may predict cannabis use patterns among young adult college students. Using the Knowledge-Attitude-Behavior (KAB) model, the current study examined a) the mediating effect of cannabis beliefs on the association between cannabis knowledge and cannabis use behaviors (frequency and typical intoxication time) and b) how these relationships differ across young adults’ primary cannabis route of administration (ROA; smoke, vape, edible). A sample of 549 young adult (ages 18 – 30; Mage = 19.25, SD = 1.83) college students reporting past 30-day recreational cannabis use was collected from nine institutions across the U.S. Participants primarily used cannabis by smoking (48.6%), vaping (37.7%), or ingesting edibles (13.7%), with significant differences in knowledge and cannabis use frequency and typical intoxication time across primary cannabis ROA. Smoking was associated with lower knowledge than vaping, while smoking and vaping were linked to more frequent and longer intoxication durations than cannabis edibles. Mediation analysis revealed that cannabis beliefs did not mediate the relationship between knowledge and use behaviors, and multiple-group analysis showed that primary cannabis ROA only moderated the correlation between cannabis use frequency and typical intoxication time and did not moderate KAB associations, indicating that the KAB model pathways were consistent across primary cannabis ROA. Findings suggest that prevention and intervention efforts should account for unique behavioral and psychosocial patterns across different cannabis ROAs, emphasizing targeted and tailored education and harm reduction strategies to promote safer cannabis use behaviors.

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In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/1h7b-8y58

ISBN

9798280752566

ORCID

0000-0002-8216-5719

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