Honors Program Theses

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Open Access Honors Program Thesis

First Advisor

Nicholas Schwab

Abstract

Harm reduction refers to behaviors that are used to reduce the harmful risks or negative consequences that are associated with using drugs and aim to protect individuals. Research indicates that harm reduction strategies associated with cannabis are scarce, but that college students may be unaware of these behaviors since the legalization of cannabis in many U.S. states. However, there are gaps within research in regards to if college students are unaware of harm reduction strategies or if the perception of cannabis-use related harm reduction effectiveness or if there is a social norm aspect that relates to using these strategies. The present study aimed to determine if increased perception of effectiveness of harm reduction behaviors correlated with peer behavior use perceptions and use of harm reduction in general. Results did not indicate that there was a correlation between perception of peer use of harm reduction strategies and effectiveness. However, results based on history of cannabis-use supported college students’ perceptions of effectiveness affecting the use of harm reduction strategies. In addition, results showed that those who have used cannabis previously used some form of harm reduction in the past six months compared to non-users. This implies that there is a need for further research regarding perception of effectiveness and likelihood to engage in harm reduction behaviors, and a need for education implementation of harm reduction strategies.

Year of Submission

2026

Department

Department of Psychology

University Honors Designation

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors

Date Original

2026

Object Description

1 PDF file (39 pages)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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