Marijuana & Performance of College Students

Running head: MARIJUANA & PERFORMANCE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 1
Marijuana & Performance of College Students
Najwa Alburaiki, Mallorie Ben, Jackeline Marquez, & Amanda Romano-Kwan
California State University of Long Beach

MARIJUANA & PERFORMANCE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 2
Abstract
This study examines the different attitudes and beliefs of college students towards the use of
marijuana and its effects on college performance. There is a growing rate of marijuana use
among college students, especially those who are transitioning from high school graduate to
college freshman. The research in this paper discusses the functions of marijuana, its typically
negative effects on academic performance, and the potential reasons students may have for
cannabis consumption. Since each individual has a different interpretation of a successful college
career, college performance was evaluated by measuring both social and academic involvement.
By recording the different perceptions that students have towards marijuana’s influences towards
various social and academic situations, it is possible to determine whether there is a statistically
significant difference of beliefs between the various demographic groups analyzed.
Key Words: Marijuana, college students, academic performance

Marijuana & Performance of College Students
The use of marijuana has been a controversial subject in recent years. Although medical
marijuana has been legalized in various states, its social use is still a largely debated topic. The
Cannabis plant is sold and used in many forms, but the most common form of use is the smoking
of marijuana. Due to the media’s portrayal of marijuana, a vast majority of people frown on its
use, including those who have medical reasons for consumption. Cannabis is a popular drug
amongst college students, despite the many studies proving that the use of marijuana can
negatively affect a person’s academic standing. There is a growing rate of marijuana usage
amongst college students, and studies speculate that this increasing prevalence is due to social
circumstances and influences, or common misconceptions about marijuana that students hold
(Bell, Wechsler, & Johnston, 2006). It is important to recognize the high prevalence of marijuana
use amongst college students, as well as the potential effects that it may have on their academic
careers due to the misconceptions and beliefs students hold.
The negative neurocognitive effects of marijuana include a deficiency in memory,
decision-making, engagement, and working on complex tasks (Becker, Collins, & Luciana,
2014). Some research suggests that the major effect of marijuana use is in the attentional or
executive system, which is mediated by the brainstem structures and prefrontal cortical regions
(Pope Jnr & Yurgelun-Todd, 1995). However, there is no statistically significant difference
between recent and past use of marijuana and neurocognitive performance, despite both recent
and past users showing consistently lower results that non-users of marijuana (Thames, Arbid, &
Sayegh, 2014).
Despite studies proving that students who aim for higher goals are less likely to have
problems relating to substance abuse, marijuana use amongst the high-achieving college crowd is

becoming more and more popular (Wright & Palfai, 2012), especially in students transitioning
from high school graduates to college freshman (Brown University Child & Adolescent
Psychopharmacology Update, 2014). Therefore, it is necessary to discuss the effects of marijuana
on student performance. Studies have shown that frequent marijuana use tends to prolong a
student’s graduation time, which can result in a lower GPA (Arria, Caldeira, Bugbee, Vincent, &
O'Grady, 2015). Previous research has demonstrated that the use of marijuana does not improve
an individual’s well-being, a common misconception, and that it can lead to negative
consequences (Allen & Holder, 2014). Furthermore, those who crave cannabis and its effects
tend to suffer from negative impacts on motivation and academic performance due to poor
concentration (Phillips, Phillips, Lalonde, & Tormohlen, 2015).
Regardless of the controversial pitfalls of marijuana’s use on academic performance,
college students tend to continue their consumption for other non-medical reasons. The
consumption of marijuana is largely contributed to its function as a coping mechanism.
Marijuana directly affects the human body’s stress arousal system after being ingested, and
chronic marijuana use has been consistently cited as being used to regulate stress. The
consumption of marijuana can be correlated to multiple stress-related factors, including traumatic
stress, negative life events, maladaptive coping, and family dysfunction (Hyman & Sinha, 2009).
However, studies show that although cannabis can be used for a plethora of medical reasons—
including pain and stress relief, asthma, anorexia, and even cancer— the two most significant
functions for non-medical student use are for activity enhancement and personal and physical
effects enhancement (Bates, Accordino, & Hewes, 2010). This study shows that college students
primarily use marijuana for an enhanced social environment, rather than to affect their mood, a
common misconception. This could be due to the large socially active environment that most

college campuses offer, as well as peer pressure from other students. Those who use marijuana or
who have friends who do tend to associate the drug with more positive outcomes than those who
are non-users (Neighbors, Geisner, & Lee, 2008). According to one study, over half of the
students who surveyed wrongly believed that most students use marijuana at least once a year
(Kilmer, Walker, Lee, Palmer, & Mallett, 2006). Parents and peer influences also play a strong
role towards a student’s use or non-use of marijuana (Pinchevsky, et al., 2012).
The increasing rate of marijuana use in graduating high schoolers to college freshman is
a primary concern of this research study. To research this, the study reviews the different effects
that the use of marijuana can have on college performance. It is important to review the full
effects of marijuana, both beneficial and detrimental, to the human body, as well as to understand
the potential influences that students may have for their consumption of marijuana. Finally, the
“performance” of a college student must be determined by reviewing the multiple factors of a
successful college career, identifying both social and academic aspects of student life. The
purpose of this study seeks to examine the attitudes and beliefs of college students towards
marijuana and its effects on performance. Measuring different college student’s reflections of
marijuana use and its effects can help other researchers gain insight to the many reasons that
college students use marijuana.
Methods
Participants
A convenience sample of 80 undergraduate students from California State University,
Long Beach (CSULB), ages 18-28, male and female, participated in this study. The participants
were recruited from various classrooms in the Health and Human Services department. The
questionnaire included four demographic questions to get an idea of who the participants were.

Students were first asked to state their gender. The current study had a total of 80 participants,
with 62 females and only 18 males, making women 77.5% of the survey’s population.
Participants were then asked to list their age. The participant’s ages ranged from 18 to 28, with
20 year olds being the most frequent at 23.8%. Since the pool of participants attended CSULB,
the survey therefore asked to know which Major College most students were a part of for more
information about their educational background. Students could select any one of the seven
Major Colleges offered at CSULB: the College of Business Administration, Education,
Engineering, Health and Human Services, Liberal Arts, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, or
the College of Arts. The surveys were passed out to different classrooms in the Health and
Human Services buildings; therefore a majority of the participants were from the Health and
Human Services department of CSULB, making up 58.8% of the survey results. Finally, the
survey asked for the participants to state their current class standing as students of CSULB. A
majority of the students who participated in the survey reported Junior standing, making up 45%
of the survey population. Most of the other students were Sophomores (18.8%) or Seniors
(26.3%), with only 10% of the remaining population consisting of first year (Freshman) or fifth
year (Super Senior) students.
Design
Data was collected from college students within one week in various Health and Human
Services classrooms. The survey contained independent variables specific to each student, and
the dependent variables varied on a person’s beliefs towards marijuana affecting the social and
academic performance of college students. The independent variables for the research consisted
of age, gender, major, and class standing. The research measured the relationship between these
independent variables in connection to the feelings and opinions students held about marijuana

use and its effect on their academic and social performance. Moreover, the dependent variables
consisted of the effects marijuana can induce in social environments and the beliefs a person
holds on how it can help a person. The survey contained one continuous variable, which was age,
and the rest of the survey questions measured the beliefs students held towards how marijuana
affects the performance of college students.
Procedure
Participants in the study were informed that their participation in taking the surveys was
completely optional. Participants were also informed to answer the surveys truthfully and to the
best of their ability, and that there are no wrong answers, but simply different opinions. The
surveys were passed out to several Health and Human Services classrooms and asked
participants about their attitudes and beliefs towards marijuana and whether or not they believe
that marijuana use can affect their college performance. Each survey took approximately 10-15
minutes to complete.
Measures
This study used a Likert Scale, which measures an individual’s attitudes towards a
particular statement. The survey used this measurement as a drug attitude scale. The research
used the Likert Scale to measure the attitudes of college students towards marijuana’s effects on
performance. The responses gathered from participants were measured on a scale from 1 to 5,
with 1 meaning that the student would “strongly disagree” and 5 meaning “strongly agree”. The
survey consisted of fifteen questions designed to measure the student’s attitudes towards
marijuana’s effects, specifically on the performance of college students. To do this, previous
research on similar studies was used to help create the right questions that would accurately
measure the results. With regards to reliability and validity, it is more important to be valid than

to be reliable. Reliability is focused on the consistency of the survey being used, not the
respondents. This survey demonstrates internal consistency reliability, or homogeneity, which is
the consistency or equivalence of different questions intended to measure the same concept. This
means that each question in a survey is related to the same topic (Perrin, 2015). The questions in
this survey are similar questions based off the Drug Attitude Scale, a methodology report on
youth insights, and research on the functions of marijuana use in college students, and have been
modified to fit this study (Campbell & Chang, 2006). The Cronbach’s Alpha is the measurement
of internal consistency among a group of items (the survey). It allows researchers to determine
how well the items measure different aspects of the same topic, and ranges from 0 (lower internal
consistency) to 1 (higher internal consistency) (Perrin, 2015). The internal consistency of the
scale was determined by the Cronbach's alpha, which resulted in .87. With a Cronbach alpha
of .87, the survey results show a high internal consistency.
This study’s research question was: “Do you believe the use of marijuana can affect the
performance of college students?” The purpose of the research was to determine the attitudes of
college students towards marijuana’s effect on college performance. The questions in the survey
measure a person’s attitudes and beliefs towards different marijuana related activities and effects.
This research measures 3 different types of performance: social interaction, attitude/mood, and
motivation/concentration/focus. Because of this, the survey demonstrates construct validity.
Results
Descriptives
The sample consisted of college students ages 18-28 (M = 21.3, SD = 2.3). The majority
of participants were female (78.2%) and the remaining (22.5%) identified as male. The average

of most participants came from the college of Health and Human Services department (59%) and
had Junior standing (46.2%).
In order to measure how college students perceive that marijuana use affects the
performance of college students, the survey consisted of questions regarding the social abilities
of a person. The most significant data arose from the frequency in which more than half of the
participants agreed on the effects that marijuana use can have. More than half of the participants
(55.1 %) agreed that marijuana use influences a person's relationship with another, which can
lead to increased social interaction and involvement of college clubs or Greek Life. The majority
of participants (48.7%) agreed that marijuana can help a person continue with the night’s
festivities. Based on previous research, this illustrates that the influences surrounding students
contributes to marijuana's popularity among college students. Participants agreed marijuana can
help a person feel better when they are down or depressed (51.3%) and to forget their worries
with a majority (50%) answering with agree. More than half of the participants (51.3%) agreed
that marijuana use can help a person relax. The data that measured the beliefs towards marijuana
use on the neurocognitive abilities resulted with 39.7% of participants agreeing that marijuana
inhibits a person's ability to be socially involved. The majority of participants (41%) agreed it
can be used to block unwanted thoughts and feelings. The majority for the measure of their
attitudes towards marijuana use being enjoyable answered with 38.5 percent.
The survey also measured the attitudes of college students towards marijuana use
affecting a person’s ability to succeed academically by asking how it affects a person's ability to
function. More than half of the participants (51.3%) agreed marijuana can affect a person’s
ability to pay attention, and 44.9% agreed that marijuana could make a person lazier. Moreover,
this demonstrates how students believe marijuana could affect their ability to be attentive with

school material. The majority of participants (M = 2.6%, SD = .97) disagreed on marijuana being
capable of helping a person focus. The average responded to disagree for whether students
believed marijuana can help a person concentrate or study (M = 2.69, SD = 1.07). This
demonstrates the negative expectations students hold in marijuana affecting their ability to
impact their performance. In measuring whether marijuana can cause a student to skip class, the
survey asked whether marijuana can affect a person’s ability to be on time, and the average
responses were neutral (M = 3.33, SD = .98).
T-Tests
An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare the attitudes of male and
female college students towards marijuana. There was a no significant difference present in the
data, but the closest one with the highest variation was the scores of males (M = 3.0, SD = 1.03)
and females (M = 2.5, SD = 0.92) in their attitude regarding marijuana’s ability to affect one’s
focus; t (78) = 1.98, p = 0.06. These results may suggest that one’s gender has an effect on
whether he or she believes that marijuana affects people’s focus. Within the data, all of the
questions reflecting the attitudes of college students towards marijuana do not possess a
significant difference. There is very little variation on the attitudes and beliefs of males and
females towards marijuana. These results suggest that one’s gender does not have an effect on
one’s perspective on marijuana use.

ANOVA
A one-way between subjects ANOVA was conducted to compare the effect of one’s class
standing, as a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, or Super Senior, on his or her attitude
towards marijuana use. One’s class standing made no significant difference within the data
questions, but the largest variation dealt with one’s attitude on whether marijuana affects a
person’s ability to pay attention. Although there was no statistically significant result in this
example, a Tukey post hoc test was also computed. This test is designed to compare each of the
conditions to every other condition. Running this Tukey post hoc test gave the ability to see and
compare the variations between each class standing. Through the data collected, it demonstrated
the variations in which each class standing answered each question. Although there were slight
differences, none of the variations came out to have a significant difference.

Discussion
The results demonstrate that students believe marijuana can assist people as a coping
mechanism and can aid with socializing. It also highlighted the negative expectations students
hold in marijuana affecting their ability to impact their performance. The results present in the
data also possess no significant difference. Neither the independent sample t-test nor the ANOVA
test resulted in any significant difference. This means that there is not enough variation between
the attitudes of college students towards marijuana and class standing and gender in the data
collected.
Limitations
There are several limitations present in this study. The population sample is relatively
small with only 80 undergraduate students. This sample size is limited in the demographic
populations represented. Within the population sample, data was collected from 68 females and
only 18 males. This significantly uneven gender based population sample may have contributed
to the lack of significant difference present in the data. The data was also mainly passed out to
students from the college of Health and Human Services, which may have altered the results. The
small sample population was also not evenly distributed according to class standing, which may
also be a contributor to no statistically significant results. This study also possesses respondent
bias. Respondent bias is made up of any error in a study that stems from a participant’s inability
or unwillingness to answer truthfully and honestly to survey questions. Social desirability bias,
which is the natural desire for participants to provide socially acceptable answers in order to
avoid embarrassment, is the respondent bias that may be most evident in this study. Since there is
a social stigma related to marijuana use, those who take the survey may feel that their attitudes
towards marijuana should be negative because they may think that is more socially acceptable.

Conclusion
The results of this study show that there is no statistically significant difference on the
beliefs of marijuana use and its effects between age, gender, major, and class standing. Most of
the students surveyed had the same opinions, attitudes, and beliefs towards marijuana’s potential
effects on the overall success of college performance, whether academic or social. The increase
of high school graduates using marijuana is a growing concern due to the negative cognitive
effects that it can have. This study hypothesized that those who reported Freshman or Sophomore
standing would have varied results from Juniors or Seniors due to differences in age and
therefore experience; however, the results reported no significant difference. Further study is
necessary to support these results. A larger population size would contribute to more accurate
results that could wield a significant difference between the independent variables. By knowing
the attitudes and beliefs of college students towards the functions of marijuana and its potential
effects, researchers can better understand the reason behind this increase of use.

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