04 July 2020
Background and Aims: Cannabis use disorder (CUD) is frequent in adolescence and often goes into remission towards adulthood. This study aimed to estimate trajectories of CUD severity (CUDS) in Swiss men from 20 to 25 years old and to identify prospective predictors of these trajectories.
Participants: 5987 Swiss men assessed longitudinally at the mean ages of 20, 21.5 and 25 years old.
Measurements: Latent CUDS in the last 12 months was measured at each wave with the Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test Revised (CUDIT‐R). Predictors of CUDS trajectories, measured at age 20, were from six domains: factors related to cannabis use, family, peers, other substance use, mental health and personality.
Conclusions: Factors associated with persistent cannabis use disorder in young Swiss men include cannabis use, cannabis use disorder severity, mental health problem severity, relationship with parents (before the age of 18), peers with drug problems, and the personality dimensions neuroticism‐anxiety and sociability at or before age 20. Effect sizes may be small and predictors are mainly associated with persistence via higher severity at age 20.