Poverty matters: Cannabis use among people with serious mental illness: Findings from the United States survey on drug use and health,2015

Abstract

Background:

Little is known about the influence of contextual characteristics on comorbid substance use and serious mental illness (SMI).

Aims:

To explore the role of poverty on comorbid SMI and cannabis use.

Methods:

We used data from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, considering those in poverty, with income under 100% of the US poverty threshold.

Results:

People in poverty were more likely to suffer from concurrent SMI and cannabis use (3.07%, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.84%; 5.07%), even controlling for gender, age, tobacco and alcohol use (odds ratio (OR) = 2.77, 95% CI: 1.27; 6.03, p = .010).

Conclusion:

The magnitude of the association between SMI and cannabis use is influenced by poverty status. More research on potential mediators like income inequality and impoverished social capital is needed.

Keywords

Severe mental disorders poverty cannabis national survey

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Broussard

Kelley

M. E.

Wan

C. R.

Cristofaro

S. L.

Crisafio

Haggard

P. J.

Compton

M. T.

(2013). Demographic, socio-environmental, and substance-related predictors of duration of untreated psychosis (DUP). Schizophrenia Research, 148, 93–98.

Burns

J. K.

(2015). Poverty, inequality and a political economy of mental health. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 24, 107–113.

Carrà

Crocamo

Borrelli

Popa

Ornaghi

Montomoli

Clerici

(2015). Correlates of dependence and treatment for substance use among people with comorbid severe mental and substance use disorders: Findings from the ‘Psychiatric and Addictive Dual Disorder in Italy (PADDI)’ Study. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 58, 152–159.

Carrà

Crocamo

Borrelli

Tabacchi

Bartoli

Popa

Clerici

(2017). Area-level deprivation and adverse consequences in people with substance use disorders: Findings from the Psychiatric and Addictive Dual Disorder in Italy (PADDI) Study. Substance Use & Misuse, 52, 451–458.

Carrà

Johnson

Crocamo

Angermeyer

M. C.

Brugha

Azorin

J. M.

Bebbington

(2016). Psychosocial functioning, quality of life and clinical correlates of comorbid alcohol and drug dependence syndromes in people with schizophrenia across Europe. Psychiatry Research, 239, 301–307.

Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. (2013). 2012 National survey on drug use and health: Methodological resource book (Section 16a, 2012 mental health surveillance study: Design and estimation report). Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. (2016). 2015 National survey on drug use and health: Methodological summary and definitions. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Cerdá

Ransome

Keyes

K. M.

Koenen

K. C.

Tardiff

Vlahov

Galea

(2013). Revisiting the role of the urban environment in substance use: The case of analgesic overdose fatalities. American Journal of Public Health, 103, 2252–2260.

10.

Forchuk

Joplin

Schofield

Csiernik

Gorlick

Turner

(2007). Housing, income support and mental health: Points of disconnection. Health Research Policy and Systems, 5, 14.

11.

Galea

Ahern

Tracy

Vlahov

(2007). Neighborhood income and income distribution and the use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 32, S195–202.

12.

Hudson

C. G.

(2005). Socioeconomic status and mental illness: Tests of the social causation and selection hypotheses. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 75, 3–18.

13.

Jefferis

B. J.

Power

Graham

Manor

(2004). Effects of childhood socioeconomic circumstances on persistent smoking. American Journal of Public Health, 94, 279–285.

14.

Lund

(2014). Poverty and mental health: Towards a research agenda for low and middle-income countries: Commentary on Tampubolon and Hanandita. Social Science & Medicine, 111, 134–136.

15.

Marconi

Di Forti

Lewis

C. M.

Murray

R. M.

Vassos

(2016). Meta-analysis of the association between the level of cannabis use and risk of psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 42, 1262–1269.

16.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2018). Survey data series. Retrieved from http://www.samhsa.gov/data/

17.

United States Census Bureau. (2018). Poverty thresholds. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html

18.

Walker

E. R.

Druss

B. G.

(2017). Cumulative burden of comorbid mental disorders, substance use disorders, chronic medical conditions, and poverty on health among adults in the U.S.A. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 22, 727–735.

19.

Williams

C. T.

Latkin

C. A.

(2007). Neighborhood socioeconomic status, personal network attributes, and use of heroin and cocaine. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 32, S203–S210.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.15 MB