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. 2023 Aug 15:335:392-400.
doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.05.056. Epub 2023 May 20.

Daily-level relationships between negative affect, negative emotion differentiation, and cannabis behaviors among a high-risk sample of young adults

Katherine Walukevich-Dienst  1 , Marilyn L Piccirillo  2 , Brian H Calhoun  2 , Michele Bedard-Gilligan  2 , Mary E Larimer  2 , Megan E Patrick  3 , Christine M Lee  2
Affiliations

Daily-level relationships between negative affect, negative emotion differentiation, and cannabis behaviors among a high-risk sample of young adults

Katherine Walukevich-Dienst et al. J Affect Disord. .

Abstract

Prior research suggests that higher trait negative emotion differentiation (NED; one's ability to make subtle distinctions between different negative emotional states) is associated with consuming less alcohol when experiencing high negative affect (NA) in daily life. Yet, whether these findings extend to cannabis use behaviors is unclear. The present study used intensive daily data to test whether NED moderated the relationship between NA and cannabis behaviors. A community sample of 409 young adults who used alcohol and cannabis completed a baseline survey and five 2-week bursts of online surveys across two years. Multilevel models tested cross-level interactions between trait NED (person-level) and daily NA (daily-level) predicting cannabis use, hours high, negative consequences, craving, and coping motives. In contrast to expectations, on days with higher reported NA, people with higher NED (compared to those with lower NED) had a greater likelihood of experiencing any cannabis craving, experienced more intense craving, and reported higher cannabis coping motives. NED x NA interaction was not significant for likelihood of cannabis use, hours high, or negative consequences. Post-hoc descriptive analyses suggest notable person-specific heterogeneity in these findings. Individuals with higher ability to differentiate between negative emotions reported higher coping motives and craving when experiencing higher NA. However, these associations were variable for individuals within the sample. It may be that high NED individuals crave and purposefully use cannabis to reduce NA states. Findings are inconsistent with the alcohol literature and have important implications for intervention efforts aimed at reducing coping-motivated cannabis use among young adults.

Keywords: Affective dynamics; Cannabis; Negative affect; Negative emotion differentiation; Young adults.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest None.

Figures

Figures 1a-c.
Figures 1a-c.
Negative emotion differentiation (NED) × within-person negative affect (NA) cross-level interaction predicting daily-level outcomes
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Distributions of the relationships between daily negative affect (NA) and cannabis-outcomes as a function of negative emotion differentiation (NED).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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