Motives For Cannabis Use Research Articles

Examination of the Association Among Personality Traits, Anxiety Sensitivity, and Cannabis Use Motives in a Community Sample

Personality factors, such as neuroticism, are important for understanding motives for cannabis use; however, few studies have examined the role of neuroticism in the context of other personality factors, or possible mechanisms accounting for an association between neuroticism and motives for use. The present study examined concurrent associations between personality traits (i.e., conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) and cannabis use motives, and the role of anxiety sensitivity (AS) in the association between neuroticism and coping cannabis use motives. Seventy young adults endorsing past-month cannabis use (58.6 % female, M age = 20.91) completed self-report measures. Linear regressions were conducted to examine the concurrent associations between personality factors and cannabis use motives. Higher levels of neuroticism, but no other personality traits, were significantly associated with greater coping (β = 45, p < .01) and expansion (β = 0.29, p = <.05) motives. Bootstrap analysis (10,000 re-samples) revealed that a significant portion of the relationship between neuroticism and coping motives was explained by AS (point estimate = 0.029, PB 95 % CI: 0.0089 to 0.0615). Greater neuroticism may result in heightened sensitivity to arousal, which may then increase motivation to use cannabis to alleviate such arousal.

Cannabis use frequency and use-related impairment among African-American and White users: the impact of cannabis use motives

ABSTRACTObjectives. Cannabis use motives are differentially related to cannabis-related impairment and coping motives appear to have the strongest relation to use-related impairment. However, it is currently unknown whether African-American individuals differ from White persons in reasons for using cannabis. It is also unknown whether motives’ relations to cannabis use and related impairment vary as a function of race. The present study examined the role of race on cannabis use motives and tested whether motives’ relations with cannabis use and related impairment differed by race.Design. The sample consisted of 111 (67.6% non-Hispanic White, 32.4% African-American) current cannabis-using adults.Results. African-American participants did not significantly differ from White participants on cannabis use frequency or use-related impairment. African-American participants endorsed more social motives than White participants. Race interacted with social, coping, and conformity motives to predict cannabis-related impairment such that these motives were positively related to cannabis impairment among African-American, but not White, participants.Conclusion. Although African-American and White participants do not differ in their cannabis use frequency or cannabis-related impairment, they appear to use cannabis for different reasons. Further, conformity, coping, and social motives were differentially associated with cannabis-related impairment as a function of race. Findings suggest motives for cannabis use should be contexualised in the context of race.

Social anxiety and coping motives for cannabis use: The impact of experiential avoidance.

Social anxiety is robustly associated with cannabis-related problems. This relation appears to be largely explained by coping-oriented motives for cannabis use. Yet, factors associated with coping motives among socially anxious individuals have yet to be identified. The current study tested whether experiential avoidance (i.e., unwillingness to experience distressing internal states) and its subfacets mediated the relation between social anxiety and coping motives for cannabis use. The sample consisted of current (past-month) cannabis-using adults (n = 103). Results indicated that social anxiety was robustly related to experiential avoidance, which was robustly related to coping motives. Follow-up analyses indicated that behavioral avoidance was the only experiential avoidance subtype to be related to both social anxiety and coping motives after controlling for theoretically relevant variables. Experiential avoidance (globally) and behavioral avoidance (specifically) mediated the relation between social anxiety and coping motives. Together, the results suggest experiential avoidance (especially behavioral avoidance) may play an important role in cannabis use behaviors, particularly among socially anxious users.

Cannabis Use Provides Symptom Relief in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease but Is Associated with Worse Disease Prognosis in Patients with Crohnʼs Disease

Cannabinoids are used by patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to alleviate their symptoms. Little is known on patient motivation, benefit, or risks of this practice. Our aim was to assess the extent and motives for Cannabis use in patients with IBD and the beneficial and adverse effects associated with self-administration of Cannabis. Consecutive patients with IBD (n = 313) seen in the University of Calgary from July 2008 to March 2009 completed a structured anonymous questionnaire covering motives, pattern of use, and subjective beneficial and adverse effects associated with self-administration of Cannabis. Subjects who had used Cannabis specifically for the treatment of IBD or its symptoms were compared with those who had not. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify variables predictive of poor IBD outcomes, specifically surgery or hospitalization for IBD. Cannabis had been used by 17.6% of respondents specifically to relieve symptoms associated with their IBD, the majority by inhalational route (96.4%). Patients with IBD reported that Cannabis improved abdominal pain (83.9%), abdominal cramping (76.8%), joint pain (48.2%), and diarrhea (28.6%), although side effects were frequent. The use of Cannabis for more than 6 months at any time for IBD symptoms was a strong predictor of requiring surgery in patients with Crohn's disease (odds ratio = 5.03, 95% confidence interval = 1.45-17.46) after correcting for demographic factors, tobacco smoking status, time since IBD diagnosis, and biological use. Cannabis was not a predictor for hospitalization for IBD in the previous year. Cannabis use is common in patients with IBD and subjectively improved pain and diarrheal symptoms. However, Cannabis use was associated with higher risk of surgery in patients with Crohn's disease. Patients using Cannabis should be cautioned about potential harm, until clinical trials evaluate efficacy and safety.

Cannabis use motives and personality risk factors

According to the model of substance abuse of Conrod, Pihl, Stewart, and Dongier (2000), four personality factors (i.e., anxiety sensitivity [AS], introversion/hopelessness [I/H], sensation seeking [SS], and impulsivity [IMP]) are associated with elevated risk for substance use/misuse, with each personality factor being related to preference for particular drugs of abuse (e.g., AS with anxiolytics). However, cannabis use has not been consistently linked to any one of these personality factors. This may be due to the heterogeneity in cannabis use motives. The present study explored the association between these four personality risk factors and different cannabis use motives. Cannabis users completed an interview about their motives for cannabis use as well as the self-report Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS; Woicik, Conrod, Stewart, & Pihl, 2009), which measures the four personality risk factors. Results showed that AS was associated with conformity motives and I/H was associated with coping motives for cannabis use. SS was positively associated with expansion motives and IMP was associated with drug availability motives. Thus, personality risk factors in the model of Conrod et al. (2000) are associated with distinct cannabis use motives in a pattern consistent with theory.

Reasons for cannabis use among youths at ultra high risk for psychosis

Cannabis use is prevalent in schizophrenia and its risk states, despite its association with anxiety and positive symptoms. While schizophrenia patients report using cannabis for mood enhancement and social motives, it is not known what motivates clinical high risk (CHR) patients to use cannabis. Among 102 CHR patients, 24 (23%) endorsed cannabis use, and were queried as to reasons for use, using a scale previously administered in schizophrenia patients. We hypothesized a primary motivation for mood enhancement related to anhedonia. We evaluated the 'self-medication' hypothesis by examining if motivation for symptom relief was associated with concurrent severity of symptoms. The rank order of reasons for use in CHR patients was similar to that previously reported by schizophrenia patients, with mood enhancement and social motives as primary reasons for use, and the motivation to use cannabis for symptom relief comparatively less common. Motivation for mood enhancement had a trend association with anhedonia. Motivation for symptom relief was entirely unrelated to concurrent severity of positive and anxiety symptoms. As in schizophrenia, CHR patients primarily use cannabis for mood enhancement, especially in the context of decreased motivation to seek pleasure otherwise. Negative symptoms may drive cannabis use in schizophrenia and its risk states, which may exacerbate positive symptoms. By contrast, CHR patients do not report using cannabis to 'self-medicate' emergent positive symptoms. The understanding of motives for cannabis use among CHR patients may be informative for treatments aimed at reducing use, such as motivational interviewing.

Young people's suicide attempts during an economic recession: a signal for long-term healthcare and social needs

Background: Cannabis use is prevalent among patients at clinical high risk (CHR) for schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders, despite its temporal association with increased psychotic-like symptoms. It is not known why CHR patients use cannabis despite these negative effects. The aims of this study were to assess the prevalence of cannabis use in CHR patients, their self-reported reasons for cannabis use, and the symptom correlates of these reasons for use. We hypothesized that as in schizophrenia, patients would endorse use of cannabis primarily for mood enhancement, and that this would be associated with anxiety and anhedonia in the cohort. Methods: A cohort of 115 CHR patients was assessed for cannabis use in the past 30 days. Among the 24 CHR patients (21%) who endorsed use, we evaluated their self-reported reasons for use, as well as their concurrent symptoms, including anhedonia, anxiety, and subthreshold positive symptoms, using the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes/Scale of Prodromal Symptoms. Results: Among the 24 CHR patients who endorsed cannabis use in the past 30 days, the most commonly endorsed reason for use was “mood enhancement”, as hypothesized. Motivation for enhancement of mood with cannabis was associated at a trend level with trait anhedonia (r = 0.4, p = 0.08). Posthoc analyses showed anxiety was associated with selfreported “social” motives for cannabis use (r = 0.6, p = 0.003), which remained significant when corrected for multiple comparisons. Posthoc analyses also suggested motivation for “relief of symptoms” was unrelated to subthreshold psychotic symptoms (r = −0.2, p = 0.32). Conclusion: Adolescents and young adults at risk for schizophrenia report motivations for use of cannabis primarily for mood enhancement, a common motivation that has been endorsed by schizophrenia patients. This may be related to the difficulty of anticipating pleasure in activities other than using cannabis. At-risk youths may also be “self-medicating” anxiety in an effort to be more social, though seem unlikely to be “self-medicating” their psychotic-like experiences, which may be more a consequence of cannabis use rather than a cause. Understanding why at-risk patients use cannabis is key to psychological treatments aimed at reducing cannabis use in youths at heightened and imminent risk of psychosis onset.

Self-reported reasons for use of cannabis among youths at heightened clinical risk for psychosis

Background: Cannabis use is prevalent among patients at clinical high risk (CHR) for schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders, despite its temporal association with increased psychotic-like symptoms. It is not known why CHR patients use cannabis despite these negative effects. The aims of this study were to assess the prevalence of cannabis use in CHR patients, their self-reported reasons for cannabis use, and the symptom correlates of these reasons for use. We hypothesized that as in schizophrenia, patients would endorse use of cannabis primarily for mood enhancement, and that this would be associated with anxiety and anhedonia in the cohort. Methods: A cohort of 115 CHR patients was assessed for cannabis use in the past 30 days. Among the 24 CHR patients (21%) who endorsed use, we evaluated their self-reported reasons for use, as well as their concurrent symptoms, including anhedonia, anxiety, and subthreshold positive symptoms, using the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes/Scale of Prodromal Symptoms. Results: Among the 24 CHR patients who endorsed cannabis use in the past 30 days, the most commonly endorsed reason for use was “mood enhancement”, as hypothesized. Motivation for enhancement of mood with cannabis was associated at a trend level with trait anhedonia (r = 0.4, p = 0.08). Posthoc analyses showed anxiety was associated with selfreported “social” motives for cannabis use (r = 0.6, p = 0.003), which remained significant when corrected for multiple comparisons. Posthoc analyses also suggested motivation for “relief of symptoms” was unrelated to subthreshold psychotic symptoms (r = −0.2, p = 0.32). Conclusion: Adolescents and young adults at risk for schizophrenia report motivations for use of cannabis primarily for mood enhancement, a common motivation that has been endorsed by schizophrenia patients. This may be related to the difficulty of anticipating pleasure in activities other than using cannabis. At-risk youths may also be “self-medicating” anxiety in an effort to be more social, though seem unlikely to be “self-medicating” their psychotic-like experiences, which may be more a consequence of cannabis use rather than a cause. Understanding why at-risk patients use cannabis is key to psychological treatments aimed at reducing cannabis use in youths at heightened and imminent risk of psychosis onset.

Predicting the transition from frequent cannabis use to cannabis dependence: A three-year prospective study

BackgroundFrequent cannabis users are at high risk of dependence, still most (near) daily users are not dependent. It is unknown why some frequent users develop dependence, whereas others do not. This study aims to identify predictors of first-incidence DSM-IV cannabis dependence in frequent cannabis users. MethodsA prospective cohort of frequent cannabis users (aged 18–30, n=600) with baseline and two follow-up assessments (18 and 36 months) was used. Only participants without lifetime diagnosis of DSM-IV cannabis dependence at baseline (n=269) were selected. Incidence of DSM-IV cannabis dependence was established using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview version 3.0. Variables assessed as potential predictors of the development of cannabis dependence included sociodemographic factors, cannabis use variables (e.g., motives, consumption habits, cannabis exposure), vulnerability factors (e.g., childhood adversity, family history of mental disorders or substance use problems, personality, mental disorders), and stress factors (e.g., life events, social support). ResultsThree-year cumulative incidence of cannabis dependence was 37.2% (95% CI=30.7–43.8%). Independent predictors of the first incidence of cannabis dependence included: living alone, coping motives for cannabis use, number and type of recent negative life events (major financial problems), and number and type of cannabis use disorder symptoms (impaired control over use). Cannabis exposure variables and stable vulnerability factors did not independently predict first incidence of cannabis dependence. ConclusionsIn a high risk population of young adult frequent cannabis users, current problems are more important predictors of first incidence cannabis dependence than the level and type of cannabis exposure and stable vulnerability factors.

Cannabis-related impairment and social anxiety: The roles of gender and cannabis use motives

Social anxiety appears to be especially related to cannabis-related problems, yet the nature of this association remains unclear. Some data suggest that socially anxious men may be especially vulnerable to problematic cannabis use. The current study examined the relations between social anxiety, cannabis use and use-related problems, and motives for cannabis use by gender among 174 (42.5% female) current (past-month) cannabis users. Among men, social anxiety was significantly, positively related to the number of cannabis-related problems and coping and conformity motives. Coping and conformity motives mediated the relation between social anxiety and cannabis-related problems. Among women, social anxiety was significantly related only to social motives, and was unrelated to cannabis-related problems. These findings suggest that socially anxious men may be especially vulnerable to using cannabis as a means of avoidance coping (avoiding scrutiny and negative affect), which may contribute to the high rates of cannabis-related problems among socially anxious individuals.

The association between distress tolerance and cannabis use-related problems: The mediating and moderating roles of coping motives and gender

Recent research has linked distress intolerance to a greater incidence of cannabis use-related problems. Additionally, individuals reporting coping motives for cannabis use might be particularly vulnerable to use-related problems, and tendencies to use coping motives may be influenced by gender. The current study sought to extend the literature by examining the role of distress tolerance on cannabis use-related problems and the potential influences of coping motives for use and gender. Participants were 118 cannabis-using adults (Mage=29.84). As hypothesized, highly distress intolerant individuals reported more cannabis-use related problems. Further, coping motives mediated the relationship between distress tolerance and cannabis use-related problems, and this effect was more powerful for women than for men. The current study adds to our understanding of the impact of distress tolerance and problematic patterns of cannabis use.

Motives for cannabis use in high-risk adolescent users.

The present investigation examined the relationships between motives for cannabis use and negative consequences associated with cannabis use following a brief intervention. The sample consisted of 205 adolescent cannabis users (66.3% male), who were recruited in high schools and randomly assigned to a brief two-session motivational enhancement therapy (MET) or an educational feedback control (EFC). Results supported the hypothesis that using cannabis to cope with negative affect would predict the number of problems and dependence symptoms related to cannabis use, after controlling for age, gender, years and frequency of cannabis use, and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Significant interactions between internalizing behavior problems and the coping motive showed that using to cope was associated with a higher number of cannabis dependence symptoms among adolescents reporting lower levels internalizing behavior problems. Findings support the potential utility of conducting further research to explore the coping motive as an important indicator of problematic cannabis use.

Motives for cannabis use as a moderator variable of distress among young adults

This study examined the moderating effect of social and coping motives on distress among young cannabis-using adults. A random sample of 2031 young Swiss adults was interviewed by means of a computer-assisted telephone interview. Cannabis users showed more distress, less positive health behaviour and higher hedonism compared to non-users. Taking motive for use as a moderator variable into consideration, it became evident that only cannabis users with coping motives showed lower mental health, more symptoms of psychopathology, more psychosocial distress and more life events than non-users. Young adults with social motives for use on the other hand did not differ from non-users in terms of distress. These differences between cannabis users with social and those with coping motives remained stable over two years. In both subgroups, participants with regular cannabis use at baseline did not increase distress nor did participants with higher distress at baseline increase the frequency of their cannabis use. Our results suggest that secondary prevention for cannabis users should target especially young adults with coping motives for use.

Relations between cannabis use and dependence, motives for cannabis use and anxious, depressive and borderline symptomatology

This study investigated the relations between anxious, depressive and borderline symptomatology, motivations for cannabis use, and cannabis use and dependence among 212 adolescents and young adults, 114 of whom were cannabis users. Motives for cannabis use were assessed using the Marijuana Motives Measure (Simons, J., Correia, C. J., Carey, K. B., & Borsari, B. E. (1998). Validating a Five-Factor Motives Measure: Relations with use, problems and alcohol motives. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 45, 265–273.). In three sets of regression analyses, motives, cannabis use frequency, and cannabis dependence served as criterion variables. First, when motives were regressed on psychopathological measures, borderline symptomatology predicted expansion motives in both boys and girls. Second, when frequency of use was regressed on motives and psychopathological measures, enhancement motives were the only significant predictor among boys and expansion motives were the only significant predictor among girls. Finally, when cannabis dependence was regressed on motives and psychopathological measures, borderline symptomatology was the only significant predictor in boys and expansion motives were the only significant predictor in girls. This study suggests the importance of motives and borderline symptomatology in the understanding of cannabis use and dependence among adolescents and young adults.