Symptoms of depression can be common in college students across the world. There has already been research suggesting that depression can be linked to marijuana consumption to alleviate unpleasant or distressing emotions. This study completes a cross-cultural examination to find if the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related outcomes extended to marijuana. The researchers tested ruminative thinking and marijuana use motives as mediators creating a connection between college student’s depressive symptoms and marijuana outcomes.

The current study contained 3482 college students who use marijuana from U.S, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, and the Netherlands. The researchers used an online cross-sectional survey that asked participants about personal mental health, personality traits, and marijuana use behaviors. They examined total, direct, and indirect effects of each variable on marijuana outcomes. These variables included depressive symptoms, rumination facets, marijuana use motives, and marijuana use. They found four significant pathways that represented associations between depressive symptoms and marijuana use.

Throughout the pathways, problem-focused thoughts caused ruminative thinking which may correlated to higher levels of depressive symptoms and greater risk of marijuana use. Students that find themselves continually thinking about certain situations that are upsetting may be at a higher risk for depressive symptoms and marijuana use. Another fact was these findings were the same across the countries suggesting this model is culturally universal. Programs could be created that address this negative affect regulation pathway and help to prevent and treat marijuana-related problems universally. 

Take Away: This study tries to create a model connecting depressive symptoms to marijuana use. To complete it, researchers recruited 3482 college students using marijuana across 5 countries. They asked the students questions about mental health, personality traits, and marijuana use behaviors. What they found was that problem-focused thoughts seem to cause ruminative thinking. This may correlate to higher levels of depressive symptoms and greater risk of marijuana use. Programs could be created across these cultures to address this higher risk of marijuana use due to depressive symptoms.

Bravo, A. J., Sotelo, M., & Pilatti, A. (2019). Depressive Symptoms, Ruminative Thinking, Marijuana Use Motives, and Marijuana Outcomes: A Multiple Mediation Model Among College Students in Five Countries. Drug and Alcohol Dependence , 204. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107558