Examining the Association Between Marijuana Use and Personal Goals Among College Students

Many college students engage in harmful levels of marijuana use, which is associated with negative consequences, including poor academic achievement and failing to reach developmental milestones (Johnston et al., 2016; Schulenberg et al., 2005). The relationship between personal goals and substance use is complex. Emmons (1999) developed a goal classification system (e.g., academic goals, personal growth goals) and specific goals have been associated with marijuana use. Affect regulation goals (e.g., enhancing positive mood, avoiding negative mood) have been associated with greater marijuana use, interpersonal goals (e.g., goals related to others) associated with less marijuana use, and achievement goals (e.g., success and accomplishment goals) unrelated to marijuana use (Simons, Christopher, Oliver, & Stanage, 2006).

Understanding the perceived benefits of marijuana use and reduction of marijuana use on goal attainment may be critical for researchers, clinicians, and student affairs professionals who aim to enhance the utility of brief interventions. One study revealed college students who perceived marijuana use would not be harmful to the attainment of their goals were more likely to initiate using marijuana and to engage in a greater frequency of use (Simons & Carey, 2003). Another study showed the perceived benefit of reducing marijuana use was positively associated with taking steps to change use, as students who did not identify benefits in changing marijuana use did not initiate behavior change (Simons, Clarke, Simons, & Spelman, 2016). These findings suggest students are more likely to initiate changes in marijuana use if they identify benefits of the behavior change. Although findings demonstrate a relationship between marijuana use and overall goal attainment and behavior change, less is known how the perceived impact of marijuana use and reduction of use are associated with the attainment of specific goals.

This study is a natural extension of previous work focused on personal goals. Using a college student sample of frequent marijuana users, we examined the association between each goal domain and marijuana use. We then examined the extent of the perceived impact of marijuana use on the attainment of each endorsed goal domain (e.g., the extent to which participants believed marijuana use helped or hindered achieving specific goals) and the perceived impact of reduction of marijuana use on the attainment of a specific goal domain (e.g., the extent to which participants believed reducing marijuana use helped or hindered achieving specific goals).

METHOD

Participants and Procedure

We analyzed data at a 6-month follow-up for 213 college students at 2 campuses in the Pacific Northwest who were participating in a brief intervention for marijuana use (for full study details see Lee et al., 2013). Participants were enrolled in the study if they engaged in marijuana use at least 5 times in the previous month. At baseline, they were randomly assigned to one of two condition groups: inperson brief motivational personalized feedback intervention or assessment-only control group. Participants completed 3-month and 6-month follow-up assessments. There were significant intervention effects in marijuana outcomes at the 3-month follow-up, but no significant effects between conditions at the 6-month follow-up. Participation was voluntary and students were compensated $25 for baseline, $10 for postintervention assessment, and $30 for each follow-up. Participants' average age was 19.89 years (SD = 1.40), with 74% White and 53% male.

Measures

Participants responded to the following questions: "In the past 30 days, how many days did you use marijuana?" and "How many times a day did you get high, on average per day, when you smoked?" Participants were asked "Please list your 5 most important goals you are thinking about and planning to work toward during your time in college" (adapted from Emmons, 1999). For each goal listed, participants were then asked to indicate the extent to which "My marijuana use affects this goal" and "Reducing my marijuana use would affect this goal" on a 5-point Likert-type scale from 1 (very negatively) to 5 (very positively).

Goal Classification, Reliability, and Analytic Procedure

A total of 1,038 goals from 213 participants were coded into 1 of 11...