NCJ Number
247201
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 38 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2014 Pages: 962-972
Date Published
May 2014
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether motives for using marijuana is the mediator of the link between childhood maltreatment and marijuana use in a sample of 125 young adults ages 19-25 years old (66.9 percent female) who were recruited through online community advertising.
Abstract
Of the 271 young adults recruited for the study, 142 had endorsed past-year marijuana use. Only past-year marijuana users were included in this study. Correlational analyses found bivariate relationships between childhood maltreatment, emotion dysregulation, motives for using marijuana, and problems due to marijuana use. Mediational analyses found that coping motives mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and marijuana problems, and emotion dysregulation was associated with marijuana problems both directly and indirectly through coping motives for its use. Clinicians working with problem marijuana users should focus on changing individuals' motives for using marijuana at a problem level, targeting coping motives and helping individuals find more adaptive ways of coping with anxiety and other disturbing conditions or unresolved circumstances. The development of healthy emotion regulation strategies would help achieve this objective. All participants completed a questionnaire that assessed childhood maltreatment, emotion dysregulation, motives for using marijuana, past-year and past 3-month marijuana use, and marijuana problems. 3 tables and 81 references