Abstract
Background
Black Americans who use cannabis exhibit poorer cannabis-related outcomes than other groups, highlighting a need to identify psycho-sociocultural factors related to their use. Although ethnic-racial identity (ERI) is related to less cannabis use, this is the first known test of whether anxiety sensitivity (AS) or negative affect (depression, anxiety) impacts these relations.
Methods
Participants were 101 Black undergraduates that endorsed current (past-month) cannabis use and completed a series of online survey measures.
Results
Among men, ERI was related to cannabis use frequency at lower but not higher levels of AS, whereas ERI was unrelated to cannabis use frequency at any level among women. A similar pattern was observed for social anxiety and panic, but not depression.
Conclusions
These findings extend prior research on the protective effects of ERI on cannabis use among Black individuals by highlighting the interactive nature of psycho-sociocultural factors in cannabis-related behaviors among Black individuals. Findings suggest that ERI’s protective influence may no longer be evident at higher levels of anxiety and anxiety-related constructs (AS), especially among men.
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Notes
The term Black is used in the current paper to describe people of African ancestry. The term Black is used rather than African American to include individuals who may identify with other national origins (e.g., Bahamian, Jamaican) per the American Psychological Association (2020).
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Funding
This work was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the University of Houston under Award Number U54MD015946. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Buckner receives funding from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) Program (Grant D40HP33350). Dr. Zvolensky receives fees from Elsevier, Guilford Press, and is supported by grants from NIH, American Cancer Society, and Cancer Research Institute of Texas. The funding sponsors have no involvement in study design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of data, writing the manuscript, nor in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
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Buckner, J.D., Morris, P.E., Shepherd, J.M. et al. Cannabis Use among Black Young Adults: The Interactive Effects of Ethnic-Racial Identity, Anxiety, and Sex. Cogn Ther Res 46, 864–872 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-022-10296-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-022-10296-y