Sexual minority women and Cannabis use: The serial impact of PTSD symptom severity and coping motives

Authors

Katherine Walukevich-Dienst, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, 236 Audubon Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
T Dylanne Twitty, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, 236 Audubon Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
Julia D. Buckner, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, 236 Audubon Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. Electronic address: jbuckner@lsu.edu.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2019

Abstract

Sexual minority women (SMW) report greater rates of cannabis use. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity is related to greater cannabis use among SMW, and it is theorized that this is due to SMW using cannabis in an attempt to manage negative affectivity associated with PTSD symptoms. However, this is the first known study to test this hypothesis. Among undergraduate women who endorsed lifetime cannabis use (N = 439, 10.5% self-identified SMW), SMW reported greater rates of cannabis use, more frequent cannabis use, greater coping-motivated use, and greater PTSD symptom severity than heterosexual women. Serial mediation analyses revealed that SMW reported more frequent cannabis use via the serial effect of PTSD symptom severity and coping-motivated cannabis use. Given the high rates of trauma exposure and cannabis use among SMW, findings suggest that SMW could benefit from exposure-based interventions in addition to cognitive behavioral skills that would teach them more adaptive strategies to manage negative affect associated with trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Addictive behaviors

First Page

1

Last Page

5

Recommended Citation

Walukevich-Dienst, K., Dylanne Twitty, T., & Buckner, J. D. (2019). Sexual minority women and Cannabis use: The serial impact of PTSD symptom severity and coping motives. Addictive behaviors, 92, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.12.012