Originally published: . Volume 7, No. 5. Source pages: 8.
Emily Jeffries and Austin Lemke, doctoral students of Dr. Julia Buckner and researchers at Bucker’s lab, Louisiana State University (LSU) Anxiety and Addictive Behaviors Laboratory, presented research at the 35th Annual Conference of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. The Conference was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in early April.
Ms. Jeffries, coauthored with Dr. Buckner, Social anxiety and cannabis-related impairment: The roles of anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty.
Mr. Lemke, coauthored with Dr. Buckner, Social anxiety and drinking problems: The roles of drinking to manage negative and positive affect in social situations.
In a study of 220 individuals who use cannabis, Jeffries and Buckner found that “Intolerance of Uncertainty,” or IU, was correlated with cannabis problems. Men endorsed more cannabis problems than women, and social anxiety was indirectly related to problems through “Anxiety Sensitivity” and IU.
“Findings from our research,” said Jeffries, “suggest that social anxiety is associated with experiencing more cannabis-related problems among cannabis users. This relationship may be accounted for by anxiety-related vulnerability factors (i.e., intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety sensitivity). These vulnerability factors may be ideal factors to target in psychosocial treatments for individuals with social anxiety and cannabis-related impairment given that they are malleable through cognitive- behavioral interventions,” she said.
Lemke and Buckne looked at Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) and Positive and Negative Affect. Structural equation models showed that Negative Affect was positively related and Positive Affect negatively related to alcohol problems. Social anxiety was indirectly related to drinking problems.
“An important finding is that socially anxious individuals experience alcohol-related problems not only because of drinking to cope with high negative affect in social situations,” Lemke said, “but also because of drinking to cope with low positive affect in social situations.”
Ms. Jeffries is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mr. Lemke is from New Orleans.
Emilly Jeffries, doctoral student of Dr. Julia Buckner and researcher at Buckner’s Anxiety and Addictive Behaviors Laboratory at Louisiana State University, poses with her work. (Courtesy photo.)
Austin Lemke, student of Dr. Buckner, presented work at the Anxiety and Depression Association. (Courtesy photo.)
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