Emotion Dysregulation Moderates the Association Between Stress and Problematic Cannabis Use

Abstract

Background: Research suggests emotion dysregulation is a transdiagnostic risk factor for substance use and addiction and that stress may lead to problematic cannabis use. Thus, the current study examines how emotion dysregulation moderates the associations between stress (stressful life events and perceived stress) and problematic cannabis use.Methods: Eight hundred and fifty-two adults reporting any lifetime cannabis use completed an anonymous online survey. Participants completed a brief demographic questionnaire and were asked to report their past 30-day use of cannabis, alcohol, nicotine, and illicit substances. Problematic cannabis use (via the Marijuana Problem Scale), emotion dysregulation (via the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale), perceived stress (via the Perceived Stress Scale), and stressful life events (via the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory) were assessed. Hierarchical multiple linear regressions were conducted.Results: Findings indicate that when examining the moderating role of emotion dysregulation, more stressful life events and less perceived stress were associated with more severe problematic cannabis use, and these associations were stronger at higher levels of emotion dysregulation.Conclusions: These results demonstrate a strong step toward understanding how emotion dysregulation moderates the relationship between stress and problematic cannabis use; however, longitudinal studies are needed to determine directionality of effects. Overall, these results suggest the importance of examining emotion dysregulation as a moderator of both stressful life events and stress perception as they relate to problematic cannabis use.

Impacts of difficulties with emotion regulation on the longitudinal relationship between peer victimization and changes in adolescent nonsuicidal self‐injury

“…Specifically, peer victimization positively predicted NSSI changes among adolescents with low ER difficulties, while the predictive effect was not significant at high ER difficulties. The results may seem contrary to previous studies on the interaction between stress and ER difficulties (Cavalli & Cservenka, 2021; Sui et al, 2020), but in fact, they add to each other. Previous studies that revealed an exacerbating effect of ER difficulties on the relationship between stress and NSSI primarily at the between‐person level (Voon et al, 2014), whereas within‐person relations could differ from between‐person associations (Zhu et al, 2022).…”

“…No main or moderating effects were found among problems with emotional clarity and the inability to control behaviors. Although existing research has indicated that ER difficulties could moderate the relationship between stress and mental health problems (Cavalli & Cservenka, 2021;Sui et al, 2020), there is still a relative lack of empirical studies directly examining the moderating role of ER difficulties in the relationship between peer victimization and NSSI. Using a longitudinal design, we examined how peer victimization and ER difficulties interact to shape changes in NSSI, with particular attention given to the specific moderating effects of the different dimensions of ER difficulties.…”

“…Several other studies have also indicated that the inability to control impulses and limited access to strategies are closely associated with NSSI (Baer et al, 2018; Hatkevich et al, 2019; Ibraheim et al, 2017; Perez et al, 2012). However, previous research on ER difficulties and stress interactions has focused primarily on the combined moderating effect of ER difficulties (Cavalli & Cservenka, 2021; Sui et al, 2020), ignoring the specific role of different aspects of ER difficulties in adolescents. Therefore, in this study, we further examined the potential moderating roles of different dimensions of ER difficulties to uncover their unique contributions.…”

The relationship between adolescent emotion dysregulation and problematic technology use: Systematic review of the empirical literature

“…In our context, problematic technology use itself can cause harm to those affected. Of interest for the present work: Negative life situations (such as stress) are closely related to emotion dysregulation and emotional disorders ( Cavalli & Cservenka, 2021 ; Schneider, Long, Arch, & Hankin, 2021 ). This may explain why adolescent emotion dysregulation is closely related to their problematic technology use, and emotion dysregulation may even be a predictor of adolescent problematic technology use, but this hypothesis needs to be supported by longitudinal research.…”

A Scoping Review of Risk and Protective Factors for Negative Cannabis Use Consequences

“…Experiencing stressful life events and reporting higher perceived stress is associated with more CRNCs and were moderated by level of emotion dysregulation in one cross-sectional study. 56 Multiple forms of anxiety were investigated in relation to CRNCs; however, all studies were cross-sectional in nature. There is limited and mixed evidence to support social anxiety as a direct predictor of CRNCs.…”