Date of Award

1-1-2017

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School/Department

Department of Psychology

Program

Clinical Psychology

Content Description

1 online resource (iii, 26 pages) : illustrations.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Mitch Earleywine

Committee Members

Julia Hormes

Keywords

marijuana, menopause symptoms, treatment expectancies, Marijuana, Menopause, Cannabis

Subject Categories

Alternative and Complementary Medicine

Abstract

Marijuana (MJ) alleviates a variety of symptoms, including those associated with menopause, such as insomnia, irritability, depression, and joint pain. However, little work has addressed the use of MJ in a menopausal population, or the role of menopausal women’s MJ treatment expectancies in their MJ consumption. The current study examined menopause symptoms, expectancies of MJ induced relief from symptoms, MJ monthly use, as well as average intoxication among menopausal and post-menopausal women (N=115) who endorsed lifetime MJ use. We hypothesized that women would expect MJ to alleviate symptoms that have already shown empirically supported MJ-induced relief. Second, based on the MJ expectancy literature, we hypothesized that links from menopause symptoms to MJ use would arise via indirect paths through expectancies. Third, we examined whether women’s expectancies, monthly use, and average intoxication level predicted MJ-related problems. Paired t-tests revealed that women expected MJ to improve joint/muscle discomfort, irritability, sleep problems, depression, anxiety, and hot flashes, but not decreased libido, heart discomfort, exhaustion, vaginal dryness, and bladder problems. Regression analyses and a bootstrapping technique found that expectancies mediated the links between menopause symptoms and monthly use. A regression analysis found that symptoms, expectancies, and monthly use predicted MJ-related problems; average intoxication positively predicted problems, while MJ expectancies negatively predicted problems. Particularly as the population ages, increased research on how MJ might help menopause symptoms without increasing MJ-related problems could prove heuristic.

Download

Share

COinS