Interpersonal Expectations for Marijuana Behavior

Abstract

Interpersonal expectations for marijuana behavior were investigated by means of open-ended questions. Users and nonusers were asked how the use and nonuse of marijuana affect people's relationships, and their spontaneous replies were assembled into 22 categories. These categories were then cross-tabulated with behavioral, social, experiential, and attitudinal variables. The findings indicated that frequency of marijuana use and favorable-ness in drug attitude are the key variables that influence the degree to which different categories of interpersonal expectations are mentioned. Current users most often believe that social improvement is a consequence of use but have few specific expectations for nonuse. Former users and nonusers with unfavorable drug attitudes emphasize that social impairment and personal impairment follow from use and mainly expect user rejection for nonuse. Nonusers favorable to marijuana tend to anticipate no change in relationships as a result of use and see social impairment and personal impairment as important outcomes of nonuse. The findings are discussed in terms of interpersonal data from other marijuana studies.