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European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 5/2016

Open Access 01-05-2016 | Original Contribution

Longitudinal associations between social anxiety symptoms and cannabis use throughout adolescence: the role of peer involvement

Authors: Stefanie A. Nelemans, William W. Hale III, Quinten A. W. Raaijmakers, Susan J. T. Branje, Pol A. C. van Lier, Wim H. J. Meeus

Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry | Issue 5/2016

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Abstract

There appear to be contradicting theories and empirical findings on the association between adolescent Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) symptoms and cannabis use, suggesting potential risk as well as protective pathways. The aim of this six-year longitudinal study was to further examine associations between SAD symptoms and cannabis use over time in adolescents from the general population, specifically focusing on the potential role that adolescents’ involvement with their peers may have in these associations. Participants were 497 Dutch adolescents (57 % boys; M age = 13.03 at T1), who completed annual self-report questionnaires for 6 successive years. Cross-lagged panel analysis suggested that adolescent SAD symptoms were associated with less peer involvement 1 year later. Less adolescent peer involvement was in turn associated with lower probabilities of cannabis use as well as lower frequency of cannabis use 1 year later. Most importantly, results suggested significant longitudinal indirect paths from adolescent SAD symptoms to cannabis use via adolescents’ peer involvement. Overall, these results provide support for a protective function of SAD symptoms in association with cannabis use in adolescents from the general population. This association is partially explained by less peer involvement (suggesting increased social isolation) for those adolescents with higher levels of SAD symptoms. Future research should aim to gain more insight into the exact nature of the relationship between anxiety and cannabis use in adolescents from the general population, especially regarding potential risk and protective processes that may explain this relationship.
Footnotes
1
Additional results of longitudinal measurement invariance tests suggested that our measures of both SAD symptoms and peer involvement showed longitudinal invariance from early to late adolescence.
 
2
Maximum likelihood estimation with standard errors and Chi-square robust to non-normality (MLR) corrects standard errors of estimates. Bootstrapped effects are therefore not available in Mplus in combination with MLR estimation [37]. We checked results in our final model using regular maximum likelihood estimation (ML) with bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals [51], and results were comparable.
 
3
A full correlation matrix is available from the first author on request.
 
4
Using multi-group analyses, we also explored potential moderation by sex of the longitudinal cross-lagged paths in the final model. These results should however be interpreted with caution, as the cases/parameter ratio suggested that these complex models actually require a much larger sample size for reliable estimation ([45], p. 111). Results suggested no significant moderation of the cross-lagged paths, with the exception of peer involvement predicting a lower probability of cannabis non-use for girls, b = −2.12, OR = 0.12, p < 0.001, compared to boys, b = −1.22, OR = 0.30, p < 0.001 (Wald test = 4.31, df = 1, p = 0.04). This also implied stronger indirect effects from SAD symptoms, via peer involvement, to cannabis non-use for girls, b = 0.07, 95 % CI = [0.001, 0.136], p = 0.046, compared to boys, b = 0.04, 95 % CI = [0.001, 0.078], p = 0.047.
 
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Metadata
Title
Longitudinal associations between social anxiety symptoms and cannabis use throughout adolescence: the role of peer involvement
Authors
Stefanie A. Nelemans
William W. Hale III
Quinten A. W. Raaijmakers
Susan J. T. Branje
Pol A. C. van Lier
Wim H. J. Meeus
Publication date
01-05-2016
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry / Issue 5/2016
Print ISSN: 1018-8827
Electronic ISSN: 1435-165X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-015-0747-8

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