ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2023
Directional associations between cannabis use and depression from late adolescence to young adulthood: the role of adverse childhood experiences.
Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Cannabis use and mood disorders: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Examining bidirectional associations between cannabis use and internalizing symptoms among high-risk emerging adults: A prospective cohort study.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- Social Safety and Health Outcomes in Emerging Adults: Interactions of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Discrimination.Journal of community psychology · 2025Article
- Cannabis and psychopathology: 2024 Snapshot of a meandering journey.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2025Review
- The Longitudinal Association of Cumulative Depression With Cannabis Use Disorder Among Young Adults.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2025Article
- Marijuana use among community-dwelling older adults: A population-based study.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2024Article
- Anxiety and depressive symptoms as predictors of substance use initiation among adolescents living on and near a Tribal reservation in the Great Plains region of the U.S.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2024Article
- Parallel trajectories of vaping and smoking cannabis and their associations with mental and physical well-being among young adults.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsAlthough the co-occurrence of cannabis and depression is well established, less is known about the temporal sequence of cannabis use and depression. The present study had three main aims: to test a symptom-driven pathway in which depression may drive increases in cannabis use, to test a substance-induced pathway in which cannabis use may drive increases in depression and to assess a shared vulnerability model assessing associations between individuals who have (and have not) experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
designData are from an ongoing, longitudinal, cohort study (n = 2234). Data were set up in an accelerated longitudinal design from age 17 to 24 years.
settingInitial sample was recruited from Southern California, USA. The majority of participants still live in Southern California.
participantsOn average, participants were aged 18 years at wave 8, with more than half identifying as female (54.3%; n = 1350). Most participants identified as Hispanic (1127; 45.4%), followed by non-Hispanic white (510; 20.5%), Asian (503; 20.2%), multi-racial/other (284; 11.4%) and non-Hispanic black (60; 2.2%). MEASUREMENTS: Primary outcomes were past-month days of cannabis use and depression symptoms [patient health questionnaire (PHQ)-8]. The Adverse Childhood Experiences scale was used as our main grouping measure.
findingsIn the full sample, we showed that prior levels of depression symptoms were associated with a decrease in cannabis use [opposite to the proposed symptom driven model; B = -0.33 (-0.58, -0.09)]. Dynamic coupling parameters noted individuals who evidenced greater increases in cannabis use between two prior ages reported greater increases in depressive symptoms between subsequent ages [support for a substance-induced pathway; B = 0.53 (0.18, 0.89)]. Similar to the overall sample, for those who had not experienced ACEs, as cannabis use increased we saw a steady increase in depression [support for a substance induced pathway; B = 0.14 (0.04, 0.29)]. However, for those who experienced ACEs, as cannabis use increased we saw a consistent decrease in depression [opposite to the proposed substance-induced pathway; B = -0.18 (-0.28, -0.08)].
conclusionThere is mixed support for both symptom-driven and substance-induced pathways between cannabis use and depression.
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