Anxiety sensitivity and cannabis-related problems among Hispanic/Latine adults: The roles of sex and cannabis use motives.
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Hispanic/Latine adults evince worse cannabis-related problems, yet little research has identified factors related to these health disparities. One factor that may play a role is anxiety sensitivity (AS; fear of anxiety-related symptoms). AS is associated with more cannabis-related problems, yet despite observed sex differences in the relation of other affective processes and cannabis outcomes, little attention has been paid to the role of sex in the relation of AS to cannabis outcomes. We tested whether the relations between AS and cannabis-related behaviors varied by sex among 520 (44.2% female) Hispanic/Latine adults who endorsed past month cannabis use. Among both men and women, AS was significantly related to more cannabis problems (but not frequency) and social, coping, conformity, and expansion motives. Among men, AS was also significantly correlated with enhancement motives. Sex did not moderate the associations between AS and cannabis outcomes. For men and women, the relation of AS with cannabis-related problems occurred indirectly via conformity motives, and via coping motives among men and via expansion motives among women. These data indicate that among individuals with greater AS, men and women report using cannabis for both similar (social, coping, conformity, and expansion motives) but also different (enhancement) reasons, and that motives for cannabis use may play different roles in the relation of AS to cannabis problems based on sex. Results highlight the importance of attending to potential sex differences in efforts to understand the role AS may have in risky cannabis use. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
DOI: 10.1037/pha0000829
Institutions: Louisiana State University, University of Houston
Language: English
Subfield: Pharmacology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7124281830
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