Jacqueline Rizzo, “Associations between Recent Substance Use and Attention in Adolescents and Young Adults: Moderation of Mood Symptomatology”
Mentor: Krista Lisdahl, Psychology
Poster #129

The use of cannabis, nicotine, and alcohol is prevalent throughout the period of development between adolescence and young adulthood. Researching how these substances affect an individual’s neurocognitive performance and mood symptomatology can give more insight into their impact. The present study analyzed the associations between past 3-month density of substance use and how they relate to attentional abilities and mood symptomatology across the sample of adolescents and young adults. Neurocognitive outcomes were measured using the Ruff 2&7, mood symptoms using the Beck’s Depression Inventory-2, and total substance use using the Timeline Follow-Back interview. The data analyzed here focuses on measurement at baseline appointments in a longitudinal study that required sustained abstinence over a four-week period. Past three-month substance use was log-transformed to account for skew and then included in a series of ANOVAs to test the associations with attentional abilities, mood symptoms, and an interaction between the two. Analyses revealed that alcohol use over the past three months was marginally associated with total accuracy, wherein increased alcohol consumption resulted in a less accurate performance. The other associations between each variable did not demonstrate any statistically significant results. The results concerning alcohol and accuracy were consistent with prior studies that demonstrated that alcohol may have a relationship with performance on accuracy on neurocognitive tests. Though the entirety of these results may not align with previous literature, especially regarding the relationship between cannabis exposure and attention, variability in methodology may contribute to dissimilar results. Therefore, future investigations must be done regarding the longitudinal aspects of these affects and the contributions of abstinence period length, where differing timepoints and levels at baseline may display conclusions that do not perfectly align.