Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Center, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, QEII Health Sciences Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Subst Abus. 2020;41(4):409-412. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2020.1823550. Epub 2020 Oct 12.
Emerging research suggests the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant increase in self-reported isolation and loneliness in a large proportion of the population. This is particularly concerning given that isolation and loneliness are associated with increased cannabis use, as well as using cannabis to cope with negative affect. : We investigated whether self-isolation due to COVID-19 and using cannabis to cope with depression were unique and/or interactive predictors of cannabis use during the pandemic, after controlling for pre-pandemic levels of cannabis use. : A sample of 70 emerging adults (mean age = 23.03; 34.3% male) who used both alcohol and cannabis pre-pandemic completed measures of cannabis use (i.e., quantity x frequency) and a novel COVID-19 questionnaire between March 23 and June 15, 2020. Pre-pandemic cannabis use levels had been collected four months earlier. : Linear regressions indicated self-isolation and coping with depression motives for cannabis use during the pandemic were significant predictors of pandemic cannabis use levels after accounting for pre-pandemic use levels. There was no interaction between coping with depression motives and self-isolation on cannabis use during the pandemic. : Those who engaged in self-isolation were found to use 20% more cannabis during the pandemic than those who did not. Our results suggest that self-isolation is a unique risk factor for escalating cannabis use levels during the pandemic. Thus, self-isolation may inadvertently lead to adverse public health consequences in the form of increased cannabis use.
新兴研究表明，在很大一部分人群中，COVID-19 大流行导致自我报告的隔离和孤独感显著增加。鉴于隔离和孤独感与大麻使用增加以及使用大麻来应对负面情绪有关，这尤其令人担忧。我们调查了 COVID-19 导致的自我隔离以及使用大麻来应对抑郁是否是大流行期间大麻使用的独特和/或相互作用的预测因素，在控制大流行前大麻使用水平的情况下。一项由 70 名新兴成年人（平均年龄=23.03；34.3%为男性）组成的样本，他们在大流行前同时使用酒精和大麻，在 2020 年 3 月 23 日至 6 月 15 日之间完成了大麻使用（即数量 x 频率）和一项新的 COVID-19 问卷的测量。四个月前收集了大流行前的大麻使用水平。线性回归表明，在大流行期间，自我隔离和应对抑郁是大麻使用的重要预测因素，这在考虑到大流行前使用水平的情况下是正确的。应对抑郁动机和自我隔离在大流行期间对大麻使用没有相互作用。研究发现，自我隔离者在大流行期间使用的大麻量比不自我隔离者多 20%。我们的研究结果表明，自我隔离是大流行期间大麻使用水平上升的一个独特危险因素。因此，自我隔离可能会无意中导致以大麻使用增加为形式的不良公共卫生后果。
