Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Nov:293:113407.
doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113407. Epub 2020 Aug 18.

Psychological factors associated with substance use initiation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Andrew H Rogers  1 , Justin M Shepherd  1 , Lorra Garey  1 , Michael J Zvolensky  2
Affiliations

Psychological factors associated with substance use initiation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Andrew H Rogers et al. Psychiatry Res. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

The 2019 outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has had a devastating impact. Given the on-going nature of the outbreak, the deleterious toll on mental health, including substance use, is unknown. Negative reinforcement models of substance use posit that elevations in stress from the COVID-19 pandemic will elicit a corresponding motivation to downregulate COVID-19-related stress reactivity via substance use for a subset of the population. The current study sought to evaluate: (1) if COVID-19-related worry and fear were associated with substance use coping motives; and (2) how levels of COVID-19-related worry and fear differ between pre-COVID-19 substance users, COVID-19 substance initiators, and abstainers. Participants were 160 adults recruited nationally between April-May 2020 for an online study. Results indicated that COVID-19-related worry was associated with substance use coping motives. Additionally, compared to abstainers, pre-COVID-19 substance users and COVID-19 substance initiators demonstrated the highest levels of worry and fear. Examination of differences suggested that the COVID-19 substance initiators had the highest COVID-19-related worry and fear for all substances except for opioids, with effect size estimates ranging from small to medium. The results of this study suggest that COVID-19-specific psychological factors appear to be involved in substance use behavior.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coping motives; Mental health; Substance use.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Abdullah L., Davis D.E., Fabricant P.D., Baldwin K., Namdari S. Is there truly “no significant difference”?: Underpowered randomized controlled trials in the orthopaedic literature. JBJS. 2015;97:2068–2073. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.O.00012. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baker T.B., Piper M.E., McCarthy D.E., Majeskie M.R., Fiore M.C. Addiction motivation reformulated: an affective processing model of negative reinforcement. Psychol. Rev. 2004;111:33–51. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.111.1.33. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Behar E., DiMarco I.D., Hekler E.B., Mohlman J., Staples A.M. Current theoretical models of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): conceptual review and treatment implications. J. Anxiety Disord. 2009;23:1011–1023. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.07.006. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bonn-Miller M.O., Babson K.A., Vandrey R. Using cannabis to help you sleep: Heightened frequency of medical cannabis use among those with PTSD. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014;136:162–165. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.12.008. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Borkovec T.D., Alcaine O.M., Behar E. In: Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Advances in Research and Practice. Eds. Heimberg R.G., Turk C.L., Mennin D.S., editors. Guilford Press; 2004. Avoidance theory of worry and generalized anxiety disorder; pp. 77–108.