Marijuana use, craving, and academic motivation and performance among college students: An in-the-moment study Kristina T. Phillips a, ⁎, Michael M. Phillips a , Trent L. Lalonde b , Kayla N. Tormohlen c a School of Psychological Sciences, Campus Box 94, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO 80639, United States b Applied Statistics and Research Methods, Campus Box 124, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO 80639, United States c Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, United States HIGHLIGHTS • Craving predicted use in college students who frequently use marijuana. • Craving was negatively associated with academic effort and motivation. • Average minutes spent smoking marijuana was negatively related to GPA. • Greater academic self-efficacy positively predicted GPA. abstract article info Available online 27 March 2015 Keywords: Marijuana Craving Ecological momentary assessment Academics Motivation College students Introduction: Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit substance in the U.S., with high rates among young adults in the state of Colorado. Chronic, heavy marijuana use can impact cognitive functioning, which has the potential to influence academic performance of college students. It is possible that craving for marijuana may further contribute to diminished cognitive and affective functioning, thus leading to poor outcomes for students. Methods: College student marijuana users (n = 57) were recruited based on heavy use and completed ecological momentary assessment (EMA) via text-messaging. The association between marijuana use and craving in a college setting was explored, as well as how these variables might relate to academic motivation, effort and success. The participants were sent text messages for two weeks, three times per day at random times. Results: A temporal association between craving and marijuana use was found, where momentary craving positively predicted greater marijuana use. Similarly, as craving levels increased, the number of minutes spent studying de- creased at the next assessment point. A negative association between momentary craving for marijuana and aca- demic motivation was found in the same moment. Greater academic self-efficacy positively predicted cumulative GPA, while average minutes spent smoking marijuana was negatively related. Conclusions: Using EMA, marijuana craving and use were significantly related. These findings provide further evidence that heavy marijuana use is negatively associated with academic outcomes. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S., with over 7% of the general population and 19% of 18–25 year olds reporting use of marijuana within the last month (Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2014). In the state of Colorado, rates of marijuana use are among the highest in the nation, with 25% of 18–25 year olds reporting use within the last month (SAMHSA, 2012). Approximately one-third of college students report use of marijuana annually (Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, Schulenberg, & Miech, 2014; Mohler-Kuo, Lee, & Wechsler, 2003) and a significant portion (25%) of past-year cannabis users meet criteria for a cannabis disorder (Caldeira, Arria, O'Grady, Vincent, & Wish, 2008). Chronic marijuana users experience significant consequences as a re- sult of their use, including a range of cognitive deficits. Acute intoxication effects include deficits in psychomotor functioning (e.g., speed, accuracy), attention (including sustained selective, focused and divided attention problems), pre-attentive sensory memory, and short-term/working memory (problems in verbal learning/memory, immediate and delayed free recall; see Solowij & Pesa, 2010 for a review). When examining long-term deficits, studies have consistently shown problems with atten- tion, inhibition, working memory, executive functioning, verbal memory, and time estimation in heavy, chronic users (Solowij & Pesa, 2010). Of Addictive Behaviors 47 (2015) 42–47 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 970 351 2428. E-mail addresses: kristina.phillips@unco.edu (K.T. Phillips), michael.phillips@unco.edu (M.M. Phillips), trent.lalonde@unco.edu (T.L. Lalonde), kayla.tormohlen@gmail.com (K.N. Tormohlen). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2015.03.020 0306-4603/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Addictive Behaviors