Marijuana coping motives interact with marijuana use frequency to predict anxious arousal, panic related catastrophic thinking, and worry among current marijuana users.

Summary

Among 149 young adult marijuana users, those who both used marijuana frequently (past 30 days) and reported using it to cope with negative emotions had the highest levels of anxious arousal, agoraphobic cognitions, and worry. This pattern held after accounting for cigarettes, alcohol, and years of marijuana use. No similar interaction was found for depressive symptoms, suggesting the link is specific to anxiety rather than depression.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The present investigation evaluated whether coping motives for marijuana use interacted with past 30-day frequency of marijuana use in relation to anxiety-relevant variables among community-recruited young adult marijuana users (n=149). As expected, after covarying cigarettes per day, alcohol use, and total years of marijuana use, the interaction between frequency of past 30-day marijuana use and coping motives predicted anxious arousal symptoms, agoraphobic cognitions, and worry. Marijuana users who demonstrated high use frequency and high coping motives demonstrated the highest levels of anxiety across these anxiety-relevant criterion variables. No such effects were evident, as expected, for depressive symptoms, offering explanatory specificity for anxiety relative to depressive factors. These results are discussed in relation to better understanding the role of marijuana use and coping motives in regard to anxiety vulnerability.