Alcohol and cannabis motives: Differences in daily motive endorsement on alcohol, cannabis, and alcohol/cannabis co-use days in a cannabis-using sample.

Arterberry BJ, Goldstick JE, Walton MA, Cunningham RM, Blow FC, Bonar EE. Alcohol and cannabis motives: Differences in daily motive endorsement on alcohol, cannabis, and alcohol/cannabis co-use days in a cannabis-using sample. Addiction research & theory. 2020 Jul 7; 29(2):111-116.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions

Search for Abstract from PubMed

---

Abstract:

Objective: Same day use of alcohol and cannabis is prevalent among emerging/young adults and increases the risk for negative consequences. Although motives for alcohol and cannabis use are well-documented, specific motives on co-use days are under-investigated. We examined differences in motives on single substance use (i.e., alcohol cannabis) versus co-use days in a sample of primarily cannabis-using emerging/young adults. Methods: Participants (N = 97) aged 18-25 (M = 22.2) were recruited from an urban Emergency Department (55.7% female, 46.4% African American, 57.7% public assistance) for a prospective daily diary study about risk behaviors. Participants received prompts for 28 daily text message assessments (up to 2716 surveys possible) of substance use and motives (social, enhancement, coping, conformity). We divided use days into three groups: alcohol use only (n = 126), cannabis use only (n = 805), and co-use (n = 237). Using fixed effects regression modeling, we fit models to estimate within-person effects of alcohol and cannabis motives on day type (alcohol/cannabis co-use versus single use). Results: In adjusted models, greater cannabis-related enhancement and social motives were associated with increased likelihood of co-use days compared to cannabis-only days. In contrast, greater alcohol-related social motives were associated with co-use days versus alcohol-only days in unadjusted, but not in adjusted models. Conclusions: Findings suggest that cannabis use motives associated with increasing positive affect may be most compelling for those engaging in alcohol/cannabis use on a given day. Intervention programs for alcohol/cannabis use should address alcohol and cannabis use motives in relation to increasing positive affect and engaging in social situations.