Cannabis Use in Rural and Urban Young Adults: The Role of Subjective Social Status and Emotion Dysregulation

Rural young adults may experience disparate cannabis use and novel risk mechanisms compared to urban peers, yet remain underrepresented in the literature. Subjective social status (SSS) may be a predictor of rural young adult cannabis use due to affective sequelae and potential self-medication. This study characterized cannabis use patterns and explored a novel SSS-affect risk mechanism. Cross-sectional data were collected from a national young adult sample (N = 400). Online surveys solicited rurality, SSS, emotion dysregulation, and cannabis consumption. Rural (versus urban) participants reported significantly lower SSS and greater, but nonsignificant, lifetime cannabis use prevalence and frequency, past month consumption, and hazardous use (ps > 0.05). Serial mediation suggested an indirect effect from rurality to hazardous cannabis use via SSS and emotion dysregulation (b = 0.06 ± 0.04, 95% CI [0.002, 0.16]). Current findings highlight SSS and emotion dysregulation as intermediate factors underlying cannabis risk in rural young adults. Although replication is needed, findings may inform continued research and place-based intervention development to mitigate cannabis disparities affecting rural young adults.