Indirect Associations Between PTSD Symptoms and Cannabis Problems in Young Adults: The Unique Roles of Cannabis Coping Motives and Medicinal Use Orientation

Abstract

Background: Cannabis use in young adulthood has been associated with exposure to traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Coping motives for cannabis use represent one mechanism linking PTSD with cannabis problems, yet some individuals with PTSD consider their cannabis use to be medicinal in nature. While a medicinal orientation to cannabis overlaps conceptually with coping motives, it could be associated with unique cannabis outcomes. Objectives: This study examined trauma-related coping motives and medicinal cannabis orientation as mediators of the association between PTSD symptoms and cannabis outcomes in young adults. Method: Data came from an online survey of 212 university students (M age = 19.41; 70.3% Women; 43.4% White) who used cannabis in the past month and endorsed a traumatic life event. Path analyses examined associations of PTSD symptoms with past month cannabis frequency and problems through medicinal cannabis orientation (i.e., number of mental health symptoms that cannabis is used to manage) and trauma-related coping motives. Results: PTSD symptoms were associated with trauma-related coping motives but not with medicinal cannabis orientation. Both trauma-related coping motives and medicinal cannabis orientation were uniquely associated with greater cannabis use frequency, but only trauma-related coping motives were associated with greater cannabis problems. There were significant indirect relationships from PTSD symptoms to cannabis use frequency and problems through trauma-related coping motives but not through medicinal cannabis orientation. Conclusions: Results support unique contributions of trauma-related coping motives and medicinal cannabis orientation to cannabis outcomes and suggest that trauma-related coping motives are specifically implicated in the link between PTSD and cannabis problems.

Keywords:

• Cannabis
• trauma
• coping motives
• medicinal

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Suzanne McKeag, Julian Carusone, and Nicolle Fox for their research efforts at various points of the study as well as the participants for volunteering their time and data.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

During the conduct of this study, Kyra N. Farrelly was supported by a Canada Graduate Scholarship—Masters award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.