Mood and coping flexibility in a group of adolescents using marijuana

Introduction: The purpose of the study was to assess mood and coping flexibility in group of adolescents using and not using marijuana, and recognise the nature of the relationship between mood and coping flexibility in the above mentioned groups.

Material and methods: A total of 129 persons (34 girls and 95 boys) were included in the study from 16 to 19 years of age. Mean age in the study group was M = 17.36 (SD = 1.01). The following methods were used in the study: UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist (UMACL) by Matthews, Jones and Chamberlain in Polish adaptation by Goryńska, Coping Flexibility Scale (CFS) by Kato in the Polish adaptation by Basińska et al. and socio-demographic questionnaire.

Results: Data analysis show that there are no differences in flexible coping between adolescent users and non-users of marijuana. There are differences between these two groups in mood. Adolescents using marijuana experience low pleasure and more tense arousal than those not using marijuana. In the group of young people using marijuana there isn’t any relationship between mood and coping flexibility. These relationships occur in the group of adolescents not using marijuana. Adolescents who present a higher level on the hedonic tone sub-scale were more effective in flexible coping. Those who present a higher level on the tense arousal sub-scale (anxiety-producing) were less effective in flexible coping.

Conclusions: Although a numerous of researches show relationships between coping strategies and using marijuana, the presented results did not confirm differences in coping flexibility between marijuana-using and non-using adolescents. A relationship between mood and coping flexibility has only been shown in adolescents not using marijuana.