Racism and Cannabis-Related Problems Among Hispanic/Latine Adults: The Role of Negative Emotions in Responses to Experiencing Racism

Method: We examined the role of negative emotions resulting from racism on cannabis-related problems among 520 (44.2% female) Hispanic/Latine adults aged 18-65 (M = 36.6, SD = 10.3) who endorsed past-month cannabis use. Results: Consistent with minority stress-based models, frequency of experiencing racism was statistically significantly correlated with racism-related negative affect, coping-motivated cannabis use, cannabis-related problems, anxiety, and depression. When entered simultaneously, racism and racism-related negative affect (but not anxiety or depression generally) remained statistically significantly related to cannabis problems. Frequency of experiences of racism was related to cannabis problems indirectly via racism-related negative affect, but not anxiety or depression. The relationship between racism and cannabis-related problems also occurred indirectly via the serial relation of racism-related negative affect and coping-motivated cannabis use, and via the singular effect of racism-related negative affect, but not the singular effect of coping-motivated cannabis use. Conculsions: Our findings highlight the deleterious effects of experiences of racism on mental and behavioral health.