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. 2022 Apr 9:15:100425.
doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2022.100425. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Cognitions mediate the influence of personality on adolescent cannabis use initiation

Maya A Pilin  1 , Jill M Robinson  1 , Katie Young  1 , Marvin D Krank  1
Affiliations

Cognitions mediate the influence of personality on adolescent cannabis use initiation

Maya A Pilin et al. Addict Behav Rep. .

Abstract

Aims: Much research indicates that an individual's personality impacts the initiation and escalation of substance use and problems in youth. The acquired-preparedness model suggests that personality influences substance use by modifying learning about substances, which then affects substance use. The current study used longitudinal data to test whether automatic cannabis-related cognitions (memory associations and outcome expectancy liking) mediate the relationship between four personality traits with later cannabis use.

Methods: The study focused on initiation of use in a sample of adolescents who had not previously used (n = 670).

Results: A structural equation model supported a full mediation effect and the hypothesis that personality affects cannabis use in youth by influencing automatic memory associations and outcome expectancy liking. Further findings from the same model also indicated a mediation effect of these cognitions in the relationship between age and cannabis use.

Conclusion: The findings of the study support the acquired-preparedness model where personality influences automatic associations in the context of dual-processing theories of substance use.

Keywords: Adolescents; Cannabis; Cognition; Personality, dual processing; Substance use.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Trimmed Model 1 (without Cognitions at T2).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Trimmed Model 2 (with Cognitions at T2).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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