Cannabis use has increased at an unremitting pace in the United States, due to factors like legalization, decreased stigmatization, perceived health benefits, etc. Among all cannabis consumers, young adults continue to make up the largest proportion of users. Current research continues to develop primary motives and factors that drive cannabis consumption, but little is known concerning how people choose to manage their consumption levels. This study aimed to identify the effects that the utilization of protective behavioral strategies may have on cannabis use in adults from a European population.
This study’s sample was comprised of adult residents of Bern, Switzerland who were recruited via a large nearby university (N=362, 30.7% female, mean age = 32.7). Criteria for the study included being of adult age and reporting cannabis use at least once in the past month. Participants completed surveys via an online platform that measured the following: use of protective behavioral strategies in reference to cannabis consumption (via a 36-item instrument); cannabis consumption motives (via Marijuana Motives Measure), cannabis dependency (via Severity of Dependence Scale), and cannabis use frequency. Analysis of the data was conducted using the PROCESS macro in SPSS and included Chi-Square analyses and bivariate correlation modelling.
Initial descriptive results of the study found that young adults, specifically young adult males, made up the largest proportion of cannabis consumers in the study population. The majority of the sample did report using protective behavioral strategies at least “occasionally”, with use of these strategies being negatively associated with cannabis use frequency and dependency. Routine and coping cannabis use motives were found to be positively associated with cannabis use frequency and dependency, with severity of dependence being found to possibly be implicated in the frequency of these use motives.
Takeaway: cannabis use may be significantly impacted by how (or if) consumers use protective behavioral strategies to manage their usage activity. When designing interventions for cannabis use mitigation, emphasis should be placed on use motives related to coping and routine-based use. Overall, protective behavioral strategies should continue to be provided and encouraged for cannabis use attenuation based on the efficacy that they often show in behavioral research.