Functioning of Cannabis Abuse and Dependence Criteria Across Two Different Countries: The United States and The Netherlands

Abstract

Background: Cross-national differences could affect the likelihood of endorsement of DSM cannabis abuse and dependence criteria. The present study examines whether cannabis abuse and dependence criteria function differently across U.S. and Dutch cannabis users. Method: Data on lifetime endorsement of DSM-IV cannabis abuse/dependence criteria were utilized from U.S. cannabis users who participated in the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) and from Dutch cannabis users who participated in the Zuid-Holland study. In total, 1,568 cannabis users participated in the NESARC sample, and 359 cannabis users participated in the Zuid-Holland sample. The DSM-IV cannabis abuse/dependence criteria as well as cannabis withdrawal were determined using face-to-face computer-assisted personal interviews. Results: Using Restricted Factor Analysis with Latent Moderated Structures, the cannabis abuse/dependence criteria legal problems (β = −0.43), failed quit attempts (β = −1.09), use despite problems (β = −0.32), and withdrawal (β = −0.53) showed measurement bias, and were more likely to be endorsed by U.S. than by Dutch cannabis users. Also, men were more likely than women to endorse the criteria hazardous use (β = −0.27), legal problems (β = −0.49) and tolerance (β = −0.20). Findings on failed quit attempts and withdrawal were replicated in matched subsamples, while results on legal problems (country and gender) were partly replicated. Conclusions: Several CUD criteria showed measurement bias across two countries and between males and females. Therefore, differences between countries and gender in prevalence rates of CUD should be regarded with caution.

Keywords: :

• cannabis abuse/dependence
• measurement bias
• US vs. the Netherlands
• factor analysis
• DSM-IV

THE AUTHORS

Monique Delforterie, MSc., is studying the diagnostics of cannabis use disorders across different subpopulations, such as gender, age groups and countries, as well as risk and protective factors of cannabis use and cannabis use disorders. Her main areas of interest are substance use and substance use disorders in adolescents and young adults, and interpersonal risk and protective factors such as peers and the family.

Hanneke Creemers works as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on (the interplay between) risk factors of substance use and on the diagnostics of substance use disorders in adolescents and young adults.

Arpana Agrawal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine. Her research interests are in phenotypic and genetic epidemiology of substance involvement, particularly cannabis, tobacco and alcohol. She is also involved in gene finding efforts for these substance use and misuse phenotypes.

Michael Lynskey, Ph.D. is a Professor of Addictions at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. His research focuses on the etiology and development of drug use and drug use disorders during adolescence and young adulthood.

Suzanne Jak, Ph.D. is post-doctoral researcher at Utrecht University, Faculty of Social Sciences, department of Methods and Statistics, the Netherlands. Her research interests are structural equation modeling (SEM) in general, and specifically measurement invariance, multilevel SEM and meta-analytical SEM.

Jan van der Ende is a research psychologist at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands. His research interests include the assessment of children's emotional and behavioral problems, psychometrics, the development of antisocial behavior, the epidemiology of children's mental health, and longitudinal studies investigating the precursors and consequences of children's psychiatric problems.

Frank Verhulst, MD, Ph.D. is professor and director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His research focus is on etiological epidemiological studies and is currently one of the PI's of GenerationR, a cohort study following a large sample of children from prenatal life forwards.

Anja Huizink, Ph.D. is full professor at the VU University Amsterdam, Department of Developmental Psychology, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on (bio)psychological risk factors for addiction, prenatal risk factors for adverse infant outcomes,  psychiatric epidemiology, and biological correlates of developmental psychopathology.