Sexual orientation-based microaggressions and cannabis use outcomes among sexual minority individuals: The impact of negative affect and coping-motivated cannabis use

Abstract

Introduction: Sexual minority individuals report significantly more cannabis use and problems than their heterosexual peers, possibly due to their frequent experiences with sexual orientation-based microaggressions. As a result, sexual minority individuals may turn to cannabis use to cope with the negative affect associated with these experiences. No known studies have tested this hypothesis; therefore, the current study tested if sexual orientation microaggressions are positively associated with negative affect (anxiety and depression), cannabis coping motives, and cannabis-related outcomes (frequency, problems); if coping motives are positively associated with cannabis-related outcomes; and if negative affect and cannabis use to cope with negative affect serially mediate the relation between sexual orientation microaggressions and cannabis-related outcomes.

Methods: Sexual minority undergraduate students who reported cannabis use in the past three months (N = 328; 71.3 % cis-female) completed an online survey.

Results: Microaggressions were significantly positively correlated with anxiety, depression, coping-motivated cannabis use, cannabis-related problems, non-sexual orientation-related stress, and overt sexual orientation-based discrimination. Additionally, after controlling for non-sexual orientation-related stress and overt sexual orientation-based discrimination, microaggressions were indirectly positively related to cannabis use frequency and problems via the sequential effects of negative affect and coping motives. This relation remained significant when examining negative affect specific to sexual orientation microaggressions and cannabis use to cope with this microaggressions-specific negative affect.

Conclusions: Results highlight the adverse impact of sexual orientation microaggressions in terms of negative affect and negative cannabis-related outcomes.

Keywords: Coping; Microaggressions; Negative affect; Sexual minority; Sexual orientation; cannabis.