Cannabis Use and Depressive Mood in Adolescence: The Mediating/Moderating Role of Anxiety, Cannabis Effect Expectancies, and Peer Users

abstract

The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between depressive mood and lifetime cannabis use in adolescents, particularly through the mediating role of anxiety and cannabis use effect expectancies, and the moderating role of peer cannabis use. A questionnaire was administered to 1,246 adolescents (16 to 17 years old). Analysis of variance (ANOVA), chi-square, logistic regressions, and mediation/moderation analyses were performed. Results demonstrate that depressive adolescents show a greater probability of cannabis use when they have friends who also consume cannabis. Also, social anxiety has a preventing effect against cannabis use. However, if adolescents have few or no friends who use cannabis, depression does not appear to be a risk factor, and social anxiety becomes a stronger preventing factor against early cannabis use.

Keywords:

• adolescents
• anxiety
• cannabis
• depressive mood

Conflict of interest

Authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.