The mediating role of motives in the associations between the big five personality traits and marijuana outcomes: A cross-national study across four countries.

Background: Excessive marijuana use is associated with greater negative consequences, especially among youth. Identifying factors influencing these outcomes is crucial. While the Big Five personality traits are considered distal risk factors, marijuana motives act as more proximal mechanisms to marijuana use. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the mediating role of marijuana motives (Coping, Enhancement, Social, Expansion, and Conformity) in the associations between the Big Five personality traits and marijuana use frequency and negative consequences, and to test the generalizability of these results across college students from the U.S., Argentina, Spain, and the Netherlands. Method: A cross-sectional sample of 1031 university students who reported past-month marijuana use completed measures of the Big Five traits, marijuana motives, and marijuana-related negative consequences. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the model and to test model invariance across countries. Results: In the whole sample, coping, expansion, and enhancement motives were significantly related to higher marijuana use frequency, while coping motives were significantly related to higher negative consequences. Furthermore, coping motives mediated the association of low emotional stability and marijuana outcomes, while expansion motives mediated the association of openness with marijuana frequency. Only minor differences arose across countries. Conclusions: The present findings suggest two risky personality pathways for marijuana use and misuse: a negative affect regulation pathway common to other drugs such as alcohol, and a second one related to openness to marijuana expansion effects. Personality-targeted interventions and prevention programs could benefit from additionally considering this last pathway in prevention/intervention efforts.