Motivations to quit cannabis use in an adult non-treatment sample: Are they related to relapse?

Abstract

Background The majority of cannabis smokers who quit do so without formal treatment, suggesting that motivations to quit are an important part of cessation process. However, little is known about how motivations relate to successful quitting. Method A convenience sample of 385 non-treatment-seeking adult cannabis smokers (58% male, age 16–64 years at start of quit attempt) who made a “serious” (self-defined) quit attempt without formal treatment while not in a controlled environment were administered the 176-item Marijuana Quit Questionnaire (MJQQ) to assess their motivations to quit and outcome of the quit attempt. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to identify significant motivational factors. Subgroup comparisons used t-tests and ANOVA. Cox proportional hazard regression and the General Linear Model were performed to evaluate the influence of motivational factors, gender, and age on relapse status at time of interview and risk of relapse over time, with time between quit attempt and interview as a covariate. Results Exploratory factor analysis identified 6 motivational factors with eigenvalues >1 which accounted for 58.4% of the total variance: self-image and self-control, health concerns, interpersonal relationship concerns, legal concerns, social acceptability concerns, and self-efficacy. Women were more likely than men to be motivated by self-image/self-control, health concerns, and social acceptability concerns. Older individuals were more likely to be motivated by health concerns. At the time of interview, 339 subjects had relapsed. Self-image and self-control, health concerns, interpersonal relationship concerns, and social acceptability concerns were associated with greater likelihood of abstinence at the study interview. Legal concerns and social acceptability concerns were associated with significantly lower hazard ratios (0.88, 0.83) for relapse during the abstinent period. Conclusion These findings show gender and age differences in motivations to quit cannabis smoking and that adult cannabis smokers have motivations to quite similar to those of adolescent cannabis smokers and of adults who quit alcohol and tobacco use without formal treatment. The findings suggest areas of focus to improve secondary prevention and psychosocial treatment efforts.

Environmental cues and attempts to change in daily cannabis users: An intensive longitudinal study

“…It is difficult to determine if our results are consistent with retrospectively reported reasons for quitting because these studies asked mostly about internal states, not environmental cues. However, social influences and health problems (both of which were found predictive in the current study) were often cited as reasons for quitting in prior retrospective studies (Ellingstad et al, 2006; Copersino et al, 2006; Chauchard et al, 2013); thus, our study can be seen as a more experimentally rigorous validation that these are important reasons for quitting or reducing.…”

“…The few studies that examined predictors of attempts to stop or reduce cannabis have reported retrospective reasons for quitting that mostly tap cognitive states (e.g., desire to prove self-control; Ellingstad et al, 2006; Copersino et al, 2006; Chauchard et al, 2013). Several empirical studies have shown recall of such subjective states is often inaccurate due to memory and rationalization biases, etc.…”

“…Studies of heavy cannabis users in treatment (McBride et al, 1994; Stephens et al, 1993) or in convenience samples of non-treatment seekers (Copersino et al, 2006; Cunningham et al, 1999) asked reasons for wanting to quit. The most common reasons were adverse psychological symptoms, cost, establishing self-control, health concerns, improvement of self- or social image, legal concerns, and relationship problems (Chauchard et al, 2013; Copersino et al, 2006). Existing studies used retrospective reports, which are often inaccurate due both to poor memory and systematic bias (Hammersley, 1994; Shiffman et al, 1997).…”

Cannabis Motives and Quitting Tobacco

“…Although some work has shown cross-substance links with respect to motivation, additional work is needed to better understand the impact of motives not only on cognitively-based factors important to quit processes, but also the impact on actual success in quitting. Recent work in this arena has shown that among non-treatment seeking cannabis smokers have motives similar to cigarette smokers who later quit without formal treatment 12 . While this work evinced relations among motives and quit success in a convenience sample 12 , there still exists a gap in knowledge with respect to quit success among treatment-seeking samples, and as such, further examination is needed.…”

“…Recent work in this arena has shown that among non-treatment seeking cannabis smokers have motives similar to cigarette smokers who later quit without formal treatment 12 . While this work evinced relations among motives and quit success in a convenience sample 12 , there still exists a gap in knowledge with respect to quit success among treatment-seeking samples, and as such, further examination is needed.…”