Emotion regulation shapes coping motives in system-involved youth

BACKGROUND: Adolescent cannabis use is associated with cognitive impairment, reduced academic performance, and risk-taking, among other negative outcomes. Highly prevalent among adolescents with prior legal-system involvement, cannabis use also predicts future offending. Further investigation of mechanisms underlying cannabis use in youth may inform our understanding of risk factors to support prevention and intervention efforts. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to investigate how emotion regulation (ER) relates to coping motives for cannabis use in youth and whether these associations differ by gender. We anticipated ER difficulties would be significantly associated with coping motives, with this association being stronger among girls. METHODS: Via self-report, we examined the effect of ER difficulties on motives for cannabis use, particularly those pertaining to mitigation of negative emotional experiences, among juveniles who use cannabis. RESULTS: Juvenile girls endorsed significantly greater negative affect and coping motives than boys. Gender moderated the association of ER difficulties and coping motives, such that boys with higher-than-average ER difficulties were significantly more likely to endorse using cannabis to cope with negative emotions. CONCLUSIONS: It is critical to understand underlying mechanisms and variations within youth cannabis use. ER is a malleable risk factor and results support the use of emotion regulation interventions, particularly among high-risk juveniles, to potentially mitigate cannabis use and its downstream consequences.