Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 32, Issue 9, September 2007, Pages 1957-1963
Addictive Behaviors

Short communication
Problematic alcohol and cannabis use among young adults: The roles of depression and discomfort and distress tolerance

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.12.019Get rights and content

Abstract

Problematic substance use is associated with depression. Clarifying the relationship between substance use and depression remains an important research goal, with implications for prevention and treatment. Individual differences in the ability to tolerate negative physical and emotional sensations were hypothesized to play a role in substance use behaviors among depressed individuals. The present study investigated the roles of discomfort and distress tolerance in the relationship between alcohol and cannabis problems and depression among undergraduates (N = 265). Consistent with other reports, depression was correlated with alcohol and cannabis problems. As predicated, distress tolerance mediated the relationships between depression and alcohol and cannabis problems. Interestingly, discomfort intolerance moderated the relationship between depression and cannabis problems such that depressed individuals with high discomfort tolerance were most vulnerable to cannabis problems. These data suggest that distress intolerance may at least partially account for alcohol and cannabis problems among depressed young adults whereas discomfort intolerance may actually serve a protective role in the development of cannabis problems.

Section snippets

Participants

The present sample consisted of 265 psychology undergraduates. The sample was predominantly Caucasian (78.1%) and female (62.3%) with a mean age of 18.7 (SD = 1.2). Nearly 74% reported consuming alcohol more than once in the past month and 48.4% reported five or more drinks per session. About 60% reported ever using cannabis, 31.3% reported past-month cannabis use and 8.2% reported daily cannabis use.

Measures

Participants provided written informed consent and completed self-report measures in a group

Results

Using a probability factor of .025 to control for Type I error, we found that depression was related to alcohol problems (r = .27, p < .01), cannabis problems (r = .26, p < .01), and distress intolerance (r =  .53, p < .01) but was unrelated to alcohol quantity, alcohol and cannabis frequency, and discomfort intolerance (r's < .10, p's > .025). Discomfort intolerance was related to decreased distress tolerance (r =  .16, p < .025) and decreased cannabis frequency (r =  .23, p < .01). Distress tolerance was related to

Discussion

The first goal of the present study was to investigate whether discomfort intolerance and distress intolerance were linked to problematic alcohol and cannabis use. Consistent with past work (e.g., Simons & Gaher, 2005), distress intolerance was related to alcohol and cannabis problems, increased alcohol quantity, and increased cannabis use frequency. Together, these data suggest that individuals with low distress tolerance use substances to regulate emotions which is a cause for concern given

Acknowledgement

This research was supported in part by a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (F31 DA12457-01) awarded to Julia D. Buckner.

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