Association between Cannabis use, Depression and Apathy: A Study of an Internet Community Sample of Young Adults

Géraldine Dorard* and Manon Cebron de Lisle

The trait of amotivation is commonly clinically described among chronic cannabis abusers but few empirical studies have provided data on this dimension. Thus, our objective was to  determine to what extent apathy, evaluated in a multidimensional approach, is associated  with cannabis use and misuse in a community sample of young adults. 677 participants with  a  mean age of  20.5  years completed several web-formatted self-reports including the Lille Apathy Rating Scale (LARS) adapted to a self-report format (LARS-SR) and the 13-item  Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13). Participants were asked about  their use of cannabis and, if appropriate, the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test (CAST) was completed. The problematic  CU  according  to  the  CAST  presented  higher  scores  on  the  LARS-SR  total score,  LARS-SR   subscales  “intellectual  curiosity”,  “emotion”,  and  “action  initiation”  and  he  BDI-13  in  comparison  with   non-problematic users. Regression analyses revealed that both apathy and depression were significant predictors  of  the  CAST  categories  (non-symptomatic  vs.  moderate/severe).  Despite some limitations, our study about the impairment of motivational functioning provides some new insight into the clinical implications of problematic patterns of cannabis use. Indeed, apathy was associated with both cannabis use and more severe patterns of cannabis use as evaluated with the CAST. The use of a scale investigating apathy as a multidimensional construct reveals that  only  some  apathy  dimensions seem involved in cannabis misuse independently of depression.

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Published on: Mar 21, 2017 Pages: 1-8

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/2455-5460.000015
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