Mental and Physical Health-Related Cannabis Motives Mediate the Relationship between Childhood Trauma and Problematic Cannabis Use over Time among Emerging Adult Cannabis Users.

BACKGROUND: While growing evidence has identified mental and physical health-related cannabis use motives as significant mechanisms between childhood trauma and problematic cannabis use (PCU) for emerging adults (EA), there is a need to understand the longitudinal stability of these pathways and how they impact PCU as cannabis users age into later adulthood. METHODS: The current study extends an analysis examining the impact of childhood trauma (e.g., emotional abuse, sexual abuse) on multiple indicators of PCU through a range of cannabis use motives. 339 medical cannabis patient and non-patient EA users from the Los Angeles area were sampled at baseline (mean age = 21.23; SD = 2.48). The present analysis used four waves of follow-up data collected from 2016 to 2018 (W3, W4) and 2019-2020 (W5, W6). RESULTS: Use of cannabis to cope with nausea, sleep, pain, and emotional distress mediated the relationships between some types of childhood abuse and PCU at W4, though most associations attenuated by later adulthood (W6). Specifically, greater emotional distress and nausea motives were associated with greater PCU in models of emotional abuse and neglect and sexual abuse, with emotional distress continuing to mediate at W6. Conversely, sleep and pain motives were associated with lower PCU in models for emotional neglect. CONCLUSIONS: Mental and physical health-related motives reflect potential intervenable factors that predict PCU in emerging adulthood among EA cannabis users with histories of childhood trauma. Results highlight the importance of and value for assessing a wide range of motives and PCU outcomes to target and address areas for intervention.

Self-isolation: A significant contributor to cannabis use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Emerging research suggests the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant increase in self-reported isolation and loneliness in a large proportion of the population. This is particularly concerning given that isolation and loneliness are associated with increased cannabis use, as well as using cannabis to cope with negative affect. Objective: We investigated whether self-isolation due to COVID-19 and using cannabis to cope with depression were unique and/or interactive predictors of cannabis use during the pandemic, after controlling for pre-pandemic levels of cannabis use. Method: A sample of 70 emerging adults (mean age = 23.03; 34.3% male) who used both alcohol and cannabis pre-pandemic completed measures of cannabis use (i.e., quantity x frequency) and a novel COVID-19 questionnaire between March 23 and June 15, 2020. Pre-pandemic cannabis use levels had been collected four months earlier. Results: Linear regressions indicated self-isolation and coping with depression motives for cannabis use during the pandemic were significant predictors of pandemic cannabis use levels after accounting for pre-pandemic use levels. There was no interaction between coping with depression motives and self-isolation on cannabis use during the pandemic. Conclusions: Those who engaged in self-isolation were found to use 20% more cannabis during the pandemic than those who did not. Our results suggest that self-isolation is a unique risk factor for escalating cannabis use levels during the pandemic. Thus, self-isolation may inadvertently lead to adverse public health consequences in the form of increased cannabis use.

The Interactive Influence of Cannabis-Related Negative Expectancies and Coping Motives on Cannabis Use Behavior and Problems.

OBJECTIVES: The present study tested whether coping motives for cannabis use moderate the effect of negative expectancies on cannabis use. METHODS: Participants were 149 (36.2% female, 61.59% non-Hispanic Caucasian) current cannabis users aged 18-36 (M = 21.01, SD = 3.09) who completed measures of cannabis-related expectancies and motives for use. Hierarchical multiple regressions were employed to investigate the predictive value of the interaction between negative expectancies and coping motives on cannabis use outcomes. RESULTS: Results revealed interactions between negative expectancies and coping motives with respect to past 90 day cannabis use frequency and cannabis problems. Global negative effects expectancies were associated with less frequent cannabis use, particularly among those with fewer coping motives. However, negative expectancies were related to more cannabis problems, particularly among those with higher coping motives. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest it may be advisable to take coping motives into account when addressing expectancies among cannabis users.

Development of Brief Alcohol and Cannabis Motives Measures: Psychometric Evaluation Using Expert Feedback and Longitudinal Methods.

Objective: Alcohol and cannabis use motives are often studied as contributors to risky substance use patterns. While various measures for capturing such motives exist, most contain 20+ items, which render their inclusion in certain research designs (e.g., daily diary) or with certain populations (e.g., polysubstance users) unfeasible. We sought to generate and validate six-item measures of cannabis and alcohol motives from existing measures, the Marijuana Motives Measure (MMM) and the Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (MDMQ-R). Methods: In Study 1, items were generated, feedback from 33 content- domain experts was obtained, and item revisions were made. In Study 2, the finalized brief cannabis and alcohol motives measures, along with the MMM, MDMQ-R, and substance-related measures, were administered to 176 emerging adult cannabis and alcohol users (71.6% female) at two timepoints, two months apart. Participants were recruited through a participant pool. Results: Study 1 experts indicated satisfactory ratings of face and content validity. Expert feedback was used to revise three items. Study 2 results suggest test-retest reliabilities for the single-item forms (r = .34 to .60) were similar to those obtained with full motives measures (r = .39 to .67). Validity was acceptable-to-excellent in that brief and full-length measures were significantly intercorrelated (r = .40 to .83). The brief and full-length measures had similar concurrent and predictive relationships for cannabis and alcohol quantity x frequency (coping- with-anxiety for cannabis and enhancement for alcohol) and problems (coping-with-depression), respectively. Conclusions: The brief measures represent psychometrically-sound measures of cannabis and alcohol use motives with substantially less participant burden than the MMM and MDMQ-R.

Early Birds and Night Owls: Distinguishing Profiles of Cannabis Use Habits by Use Times with Latent Class Analysis.

Background: Understanding, predicting, and reducing the harms associated with cannabis use is an important field of study. Timing (i.e., hour of day and day of week) of substance use is an established risk factor of severity of dependence. However, there has been little attention paid to morning use of cannabis and its associations with negative consequences. Objectives: The goal of the present study was to examine whether distinct classifications of cannabis use habits exist based on timing, and whether these classifications differ on cannabis use indicators, motives for using cannabis, use of protective behavioral strategies, and cannabis-related negative outcomes. Methods: Latent class analyses were conducted on four independent samples of college student cannabis users (Project MOST 1, N=2,056; Project MOST 2, N=1846; Project PSST, N=1,971; Project CABS, N=1,122). Results: Results determined that a 5-class solution best fit the data within each independent sample consisting of the classes: (1) "Daily-morning use",(2) "Daily-non-morning use", (3) "Weekend-morning use", (4) "Weekend-night use", and (5) "Weekend-evening use." Classes endorsing daily and/or morning use reported greater use, negative consequences and motives, while those endorsing weekend and/or non-morning use reported the most adaptive outcomes (i.e., reduced frequency/quantity of use, fewer consequences experienced, and fewer cannabis use disorder symptoms endorsed). Conclusions: Recreational daily use as well as morning use may be associated with greater negative consequences, and there is evidence that most college students who use cannabis do avoid these types of use. The results of the present study offer evidence that timing of cannabis use may be a pertinent factor in determining harms associated with use.

Cannabis Outcome Expectancies, Cannabis Use Motives, and Cannabis Use among a Small Sample of Frequent Using Adults.

Background: Little is known about the factors influencing use among frequent cannabis users, defined here as using at least three times per week. Outcome expectancies and motives for cannabis use have been independently examined in relation to cannabis use, but not among frequent users. Further, the associations among distinct expectancies and motives for cannabis use have yet to be explored. The current study examined whether expectancies influence cannabis use through cannabis use motives among frequent users. Additionally, we examined more nuanced relationships among three cannabis outcome expectancies (relaxation/tension reduction, social, perceptual/cognitive) and four motives (enhancement, social, coping, expansion). Method: Bayesian path analysis with informative priors was used to examine associations among expectancies, motives, and outcomes in a sample of 54 (63% male) young adult frequent users (i.e., at least three times per week; 65% used daily). Participants were recruited from the community and completed self-report questionnaires assessing cannabis use, expectancies, and motives. Results: Findings support hypotheses that cannabis use expectancies were associated with unique motives for frequent cannabis users. Perceptual/cognitive enhancement expectancies were the only expectancy to consistently relate to all four cannabis use motives. Social expectancies were related to enhancement, social, and expansion motives for use, and relaxation/tension reduction expectancies were associated with coping motives. Conclusions: Results extend previous work examining direct and indirect effects of expectancies and motives among frequent using young adults. Findings support the potential clinical utility of exploring the perceived functional benefits of cannabis use for individual frequent users as well as potential alternatives that might serve similar functions with fewer risks and consequences.

Borderline personality disorder features and drinking, cannabis, and prescription opioid motives: Differential associations across substance and sex.

INTRODUCTION: Drinking motives have shown meaningful associations with borderline personality disorder (BPD) features. However, it is unknown whether other common substances of abuse (namely cannabis and prescription opioids) have the same associations with BPD features. In the present study, we tested associations between BPD features and motives across three substances: alcohol, cannabis, and prescription opioids. The purpose of the study was to determine whether BPD showed similar patterns of associations across drugs, or whether some substances serve particular functions for individuals with BPD features, and whether this also varies by sex in a college student sample. METHOD: Five-hundred ninety-four college students completed online questionnaires measuring demographics, borderline personality disorder features, substance use, and substance specific motives for alcohol, cannabis, and prescription opioid use. RESULTS: BPD was most strongly associated with coping motives across all substances. For both alcohol and cannabis, this was true for both males and females, along with conformity motives. For prescription opioids, coping, social, enhancement, and pain motives were only significantly related to BPD features for females. When compared statistically, it was found that the associations with coping drinking motives and opioid pain motives were higher among females. CONCLUSIONS: This pattern of results suggests that negatively reinforcing motives (coping and conformity) play a similar functional role in borderline personality and substance use disorder pathology for alcohol and cannabis, but for prescription opioids the negative reinforcement motives (coping and pain) were only evident in females.

Daily associations between cannabis motives and consumption in emerging adults.

BACKGROUND: Increasing rates of cannabis use among emerging adults is a growing public health problem. Intensive longitudinal data can provide information on proximal motives for cannabis use, which can inform interventions to reduce use among emerging adults. METHOD: As part of a larger longitudinal study, patients aged 18-25 years (N=95) recruited from an urban Emergency Department completed daily text message assessments of risk behaviors for 28days, including daily cannabis quantity and motives. Using a mixed effects linear regression model, we examined the relationships between daily quantity of cannabis consumed and motives (i.e., enhancement, social, conformity, coping, and expansion). RESULTS: Participants were, on average, 22.0 years old (SD=2.2); 48.4% were male, 45.3% were African American, and 56.8% received public assistance. Results from the multi-level analysis (clustering day within individual), controlling for gender, race, and receipt of public assistance, indicated daily use of cannabis use for enhancement (ß=0.27), coping (ß=0.15), and/or social motives (ß=0.34) was significantly associated with higher quantities of daily cannabis use; whereas expansion and conformity motives were not. CONCLUSIONS: Daily data show that emerging adults who use cannabis for enhancement, social, and coping motives reported using greater quantities of cannabis. Future research should examine more comprehensive cannabis motives (e.g., boredom, social anxiety, sleep) and test tailored interventions focusing on alternative cognitive/behavioral strategies to address cannabis motives.