Abstract
Social anxiety and depression are common mental health diagnoses that are highly related to the use of substances. Researchers have found relationships between social anxiety and depression with alcohol and marijuana use problems. However, interrelations among population characteristics, internalizing symptoms, substance use, and substance use problems can cloud research findings. Undergraduate students (n = 221, 57.0% female) and community members (n = 269, 50.2% female) completed questionnaires regarding internalizing symptoms and substance use. We conducted a series of hierarchical linear regressions, which revealed that social anxiety and depression were differentially associated with substance use problems in the undergraduate and community samples, above and beyond the amount and frequency of use. Results of this study suggest that clinicians target social anxiety and depression symptoms among their clients to potentially reduce alcohol or marijuana use problems.
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All data and scripts are freely available on the Open Science Framework website https://osf.io/zc4d3/?view_only=57c0ad44ef1d4872bc9c14c9830660df
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The authors wish to thank Sarah J. Kertz for her feedback on an early version of this manuscript.
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Bartholomay, E.M., Stone, B.M. & Lyons, G.A. Depression and social anxiety symptoms explain substance use problems beyond amount/frequency of substance use. Curr Psychol 42, 6249–6256 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01984-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01984-1