Date of Award
Spring 2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Psychology
Committee Chairperson
Michael Gawrysiak, PhD
Committee Member
V. Krishna Kumar, PhD
Committee Member
Stevie Grassetti, PhD
Abstract
Trauma-exposure and Posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms are frequently comorbid with problematic cannabis and alcohol use which is high among college students. Emerging research suggests the relationship between trauma and drug and alcohol use is due to the reinforcing effects of substances like alcohol and cannabis. Researchers have looked at behavioral economic theories of reward/reinforcement to see how reward deprivation plays a role in trauma and substance use. Reward deprivation associates with a person’s ability to experience reward and availability of reward in the environment, as measured by the Reward Probability Index scales: Reward Probability and Environmental suppression(RPI; Carvalho et al., 2011). Based on these theories, substance use is connected to deficits in rewards in a substance-free environment. Research has found that low environmental rewards mediate the relationship between trauma and alcohol use problems (Acuff et al., 2018), but to the author’s knowledge, no research has examined whether low environmental rewards mediate the link between trauma and cannabis use. The present cross-sectional study tested the hypothesis that reward deprivation, measured by the RPI, mediates the relationship between trauma/PTS and alcohol/cannabis use in college students directly exposed to trauma. Environmental suppression indirectly accounted for 58% of the relationship between PTS and cannabis use. Reward probability indirectly accounted for 11% of the relationship between trauma exposure and cannabis use. Environmental suppression indirectly accounted for 39% of the relationship between trauma exposure and cannabis use. Thus the RPI scales were able to explain part of the relationship between trauma/PTS and cannabis use. Results provide support for behavioral economic models of addiction and utility of the RPI in addiction research and treatment suggesting access to and the experience of reward may be beneficial in the treatment of trauma and substance use.
Recommended Citation
Loomis, Daniel, "An Examination of Reward Probability as a Mediator of the Relationship between Trauma-Exposed Individuals and Cannabis and Alcohol Use" (2020). West Chester University Master’s Theses. 145.
https://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/all_theses/145