The Role of Motives in Understanding the Link Between Personality and Cannabis Misuse

Background and aim: A robust association exists between substance use and personality, with personality risk factors representing phenotypes of vulnerability to substance misuse. As such, personality risk factors may be valuable constructs for understanding specific motivations for substance misuse. Given the loosening of restrictions on cannabis worldwide, research focusing on understanding cannabis use in young adults, a particularly at-risk population, remains a vital area of research. The existing data provides extensive support for the mediating role of coping motives on personality risk factors and problematic cannabis use; however, the role of other types of motives has remained largely unexplored. Our study examined the mediating role of cannabis use motives between personality and cannabis misuse among university students. We also explored the predictive value of personality phenotypes for cannabis use problems. Research question and hypothesis: Do motivations for cannabis use mediate or explain the relationship between personality type and cannabis use problem severity? Hypothesis 1: sensation-seeking (SS) and impulsivity (IMP), but not anxiety sensitivity and hopelessness, will be associated with greater cannabis use problem severity. Hypothesis 2: motives for use (i.e., coping, conformity, social, enhancement, expansion) will mediate the association between personality risk and cannabis use problem severity. Method: A survey was administered to 1073 undergraduate students. We examined whether motivations for use (mediator variable) explained the relationship between personality (predictor variable) and cannabis use disorder severity (outcome variable) using an ordinary least-squares (OLS) based mediation analysis. Results: As hypothesized, SS and IMP predicted greater cannabis use problems. A noteworthy finding was that conformity motives were a significant mediator between SS and IMP and cannabis use, whereby higher levels of SS/IMP led to greater endorsement of conformity motives, which in turn led to lower cannabis misuse. Enhancement motives were also a significant mediator between IMP and cannabis use. Expansion motives were a significant mediator between SS and cannabis use. Conclusion: Understanding reasons for use (i.e., motives) allows us to identify those at greatest risk for cannabis misuse. Findings from this study may help explain the underlying mechanisms by which personality risk factors lead to cannabis use disorder in young adults. A greater understanding of these personality phenotypes may have implications for the development of personality-specific interventions for cannabis use.