Poster #24 - Responses to a Frustration Task and Substance Use During the College Transition

• In Event: Poster Session 13

Abstract

During the transition to college, emerging adults show rapid substance use initiation and escalation, potentially related to newfound independence and social and academic stress (Slutske, 2005). They may use substances for varied reasons, including reducing distress, boredom, and frustration (Kaiser et al., 2012), although limited research has examined whether responses to frustration relate to substance use. The present study examined whether responses to an ambiguous task—the mirror tracing task—were related to substance use. People who were more easily frustrated—as operationalized by reports of frustration discomfort, and lower behavioral engagement with and greater emotion responses to the task—were hypothesized to use substances more frequently.
College students (N=149, M age=20.0, SD=1.26; 74.5% female; 35.6% Asian, 29.5% White, 15.4% Latino; 19.5% biracial or different identity) were asked to trace a six-sided star using their nondominant hand, which was occluded such that they could only see the mirror reflection as they drew. At baseline, participants completed the Frustration Discomfort Scale (Harrington, 2005; α=.88) and reported their frequency of alcohol and marijuana use over the past month using items from Monitoring the Future. Participants could attempt tracing up to three times, and task engagement was operationalized as the total time they spent on the task. They reported emotion immediately before and after the task, rating four items (frustrated, mad, angry, irritated) on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely). Items showed high reliability (α=.87). Regression models predicted substance use from baseline frustration discomfort, number of minutes spent on the task, and emotion responses to the task, controlling for participant age, gender, sexual orientation, and parents’ education.
See Table 1 for correlations between study variables. Baseline frustration discomfort was related to neither the frequency of alcohol nor marijuana, ps>.05. Participants who engaged with the task for a shorter time reported more frequent use of alcohol (B=-0.07, SE=0.03, p=.009, β=-.21; Fig. 1a), but not marijuana (p=.577, β=-.04). Surprisingly, results indicated that participants who reported increases in frustration also reported less frequent use of marijuana (B=-0.37, SE=0.18, p=.039, β=-.17; Fig. 1b), but not alcohol (p=.219, β=.10). We explored whether associations differed by year in college and did not observe any differences in associations (ps>.05).
Taken together, results indicated that emerging adults’ reports of frustration discomfort were not related to substance use, but their responses to the challenging task were related to substance use. Participants who were less frustrated by the task and who spent less time on the task tended to also use marijuana and alcohol, respectively, more frequently. Results for emotion reactivity may have emerged because participants could choose to disengage from the task prior to experiencing frustration. It is possible that students who remain engaged with ambiguous or challenging tasks, even when they elicit frustration, may be less inclined to use substances, particularly in college when emerging adults experience stressors in different domains. Future studies should assess how responses to other ambiguous paradigms may relate to substance use, as well as further examine substance-specific associations.

Author

• Danny Rahal, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author