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Hit the chronic… physical activity: are cannabis associated mental health changes in adolescents attenuated by remaining active?

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Abstract

Purpose

High-frequency cannabis use in adolescents has been associated with adult mental illness. In contrast, physical activity has been demonstrated to benefit mental health status. The purpose of this study was to examine whether, within a 1-year prospective study design, changes in cannabis use frequency are associated with changes in mental health, and whether meeting physical activity guidelines moderates these associations.

Methods

COMPASS (2012–2021) is a hierarchical longitudinal health data survey from a rolling cohort of secondary school students across Canada; student-level mental health data linked from Years 5 (2016/17) and 6 (2017/18) were analysed (n = 3173, 12 schools). Multilevel conditional change regression models were used to assess associations between mental health scores change, cannabis use change and physical activity guideline adherence change after adjusting for covariates.

Results

Adopting at least weekly cannabis use was associated with increases in depressive and anxiety symptoms and decreases in psychosocial well-being. Maintaining physical activity guidelines across both years improved psychosocial well-being regardless of cannabis use frequency, and offset increases in depressive symptoms among individuals who adopted high frequency cannabis use. Physical activity adherence had no apparent relationship with anxiety symptoms.

Conclusion

Regardless of the sequence of events, adopting high frequency cannabis use may be a useful behavioural marker of current or future emotional distress, and the need for interventions to address mental health. Physical activity adherence may be one approach to minimizing potential changes in mental health associated with increasing cannabis use.

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Funding

The COMPASS study has been supported by a bridge grant from the CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD) through the “Obesity—Interventions to Prevent or Treat” priority funding awards (OOP-110788; awarded to SL), an operating grant from the CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health (IPPH) (MOP-114875; awarded to SL), a CIHR Project Grant (PJT-148562; awarded to SL), a CIHR bridge grant (PJT-149092; awarded to KP/SL), a CIHR Project Grant (PJT-159693; awarded to KP), and by a research funding arrangement with Health Canada (#1617-HQ-000012; contract awarded to SL).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University, Niagara Region, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada

    Markus J. Duncan & Karen A. Patte

  2. School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Scott T. Leatherdale

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  1. Markus J. Duncan
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  2. Karen A. Patte
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Correspondence to Markus J. Duncan.

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Duncan, M.J., Patte, K.A. & Leatherdale, S.T. Hit the chronic… physical activity: are cannabis associated mental health changes in adolescents attenuated by remaining active?. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 56, 141–152 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01900-1

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