Heterogeneous Patterns of Marijuana Use Motives Using Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

Background: Given that marijuana use is often associated with detrimental physical and mental health problems, research examining motives for its use is critical for effective remedial and preventive treatment. To date, the majority of research on marijuana use motives has used variablecentered analyses, which overlooks potentially meaningful heterogeneous response patterns and the associations of those patterns with other risk/protective factors. Methods: To address this gap, in the current study, we conducted a person-centered analysis (latent profile analysis) to identify subgroups of participants based on endorsed marijuana use motives, and examined the construct validity of the optimal class solution (covariates included sociodemographic (e.g., age), psychiatric (e.g., depression), and marijuana-use indices (e.g., usefrequency, use-related problems). Participants were 898 college students (M age = 20.93, SD age = 3.10; 68.9% female) who completed an anonymous online survey examining substance use and psychological well-being, were 18 years or older, and endorsed lifetime marijuana use. Data were collected November 2016 through February 2018. Results: Results identified four unique classes of coping, conformity, social, and enhancement marijuana use motives: (a) "Low Motives" (37.6%), (b) "High Conformity" (4.9%), (c) "Low Conformity" (45.8%), and (d) "High Motives" (11.7%). In terms of covariates, higher motive classes tended to report more frequent and problematic use. The two classes uniquely characterized by conformity motives only differed on past-month marijuana use frequency. Conclusions/Importance: The current findings provide evidence that specific classes of motives were not only associated with marijuana use frequency and problems but other risk and protective factors, such as anxiety sensitivity and social support.

Cannabis use under prohibitionism – the interplay between motives, contexts and subjects

“…In parallel with these findings, it has been argued that the boundaries between medical and recreational motives have blurred (Athey et al, 2017;Hakkarainen et al, 2019;Pedersen & Sandberg, 2013). People also appear to have several motives for substance use, rather than a single one (Cloutier et al, 2019;Littlefield, Verg es, Rosinski, Steinley, & Sher, 2013;McCabe & Cranford, 2012). Moreover, it has been stated that some drug effects (e.g.…”

“…Osborne & Fogel, 2008), social conformity (e.g. Cloutier, Kearns, Knapp, Contractor, & Blumenthal, 2019;Lee, Neighbors, & Woods, 2007) and pleasure in a wide sense (e.g. Hathaway, 2004;Liebregts et al, 2015).…”

A psychometric evaluation of the Marijuana Problems Index among college students: Confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance by gender.

“…in which participants could respond "Yes" or "No." The wording of these items and associated responses are similar to those used in the Monitoring the Future Survey, which is regularly administered to nationally representative samples of young adults and has been used in similar studies assessing college student substance use (e.g., Bachman et al, 2015;Cloutier, Kearns, et al, 2019;Kearns et al, 2019).…”

Cyber and in-person intimate partner violence victimization: Examining maladaptive psychosocial and behavioral correlates

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