Distress tolerance predicts coping motives for marijuana use among treatment seeking young adults

Assessing Marijuana Use, Anxiety, and Academic Performance Among College Students

“…At the same time, these findings may be inconsistent with previous selfreports from undergraduate students and young adults suggesting that they use marijuana to cope with anxiety (Buckner et al, 2007;Johnson et al, 2010;Moitra et al, 2015;Semcho et al, 2016). However, the data are only evidence that those with anxiety are no more likely to have used marijuana in the last month than are nonanxious persons.…”

“…This lack of statistical significance appears contrary to prior research suggesting that marijuana is used to cope with anxiety (Buckner et al, ; Foster et al, ; Zvolensky, Schmidt, Bernstein, & Keough, ). Other research has found that one's perceived ability to handle stress may moderate the relationship between marijuana use problems and social anxiety (Buckner, Schmidt, Bobadilla, & Taylor, ), whereas distress tolerance has been shown to be negatively related to coping motives for marijuana use (Semcho et al, ). A tentative explanation for this is that we were unable to find any research examining the efficacy of marijuana use in lieu of formal treatment for anxiety.…”

“…As a secondary analysis, the current study was unable to assess for marijuana use problems, which may be uniquely related to anxiety and use of marijuana as a coping mechanism. Additionally, further studies have proposed various other factors that may complicate the pattern between marijuana use and anxiety, including parental attitudes and tension reduction expectancies (Foster, Ecker, Zvolensky, & Buckner, 2015), an individual's temperament in terms of harm avoidance versus novelty seeking (Grunberg, Cordova, Bidwell, & Ito, 2015), distress tolerance (Semcho et al, 2016), and behavioral avoidance (Buckner, Zvolensky, Farris, & Hogan, 2014). Thus, the relationship between marijuana use and anxiety remains quite complex, and these findings certainly add further complexity to our current understanding of this dynamic.…”

“…Among college-age adults, there is evidence of a relationship between anxiety sensitivity and marijuana dependence that is mediated by coping motives (Johnson et al, 2010). Similarly, Semcho et al (2016) found that lower distress tolerance was related to coping-related motives for marijuana use, which in turn mediated the relationship between marijuana use and internalizing disorders. Specific facets of anxiety sensitivity, such as mental incapacitation and social concerns, have a significant interaction with cravings for marijuana that may predict its future use (Buckner et al, 2011).…”

“…Many college students who refrain from seeking counseling for their anxiety may attempt to cope with their symptoms via other means. One frequently endorsed method is marijuana use (Buckner, Bonn-Miller, Zvolensky, & Schmidt, 2007;Johnson, Mullin, Marshall, Bonn-Miller, & Zvolensky, 2010;Moitra, Christopher, Anderson, & Stein, 2015;Semcho, Bilsky, Lewis, & Leen-Feldner, 2016). Marijuana is currently the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States; college students and college-age adults use it at notably higher rates than the general U.S. population (Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, Schulenberg, & Miech, 2014;Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014).…”